Sparrow, an eighth-grade Black girl living in Brooklyn, has always struggled with making friends and finds her primary solace in reading and watching birds. Her one trusted adult is Mrs. Wexler, the school librarian, who has allowed Sparrow to eat lunch in her office and shares her passion for literature. When Mrs. Wexler is killed in a freak car accident, Sparrow’s world unravels and she is found on her school’s rooftop in what everyone assumes is a suicide attempt—but Sparrow insists she was escaping her overwhelming feelings of awkwardness and grief by imagining herself flying like a bird, a dissociative coping mechanism she uses to escape discomfort. After hospitalization, Sparrow begins working with an insightful therapist, Dr. Katz, who gradually helps her open up about her inner life and introduces her to punk and indie music (artists like Pixies, Sonic Youth, and Patti Smith) as an outlet for her emotions. Through therapy and attending an intense month-long girls’ rock music camp—which Mrs. Wexler never got to tell her about before dying—Sparrow begins to find her voice, make friends, and learn to stay grounded on Earth while processing her grief, social anxiety, and the complicated relationship with her single mother who conceived her through donor sperm and is skeptical of therapy.