Eliza Naumann, an unremarkable nine-yaer-old, feels out of place in her gifted family until she discovers a talent for competitive spelling that changes everything. Once-distant teachers regard her with a new fondness and studious classmates begin saving her a place at lunch; her father, meanwhile, begins to lavish attention upon her that he had formerly reserved for her celebral elder brother Aaron. But as eliza rises from classroom obscurity to the bright lights of the National Spelling Bee, her unexpected success hurls her family into a tailspin, prompting the emergence of long-held secrets and revelations for which she must make amends ...