In seventh grade, Amanda has decided she's going to become a world-famous dancer - she's already one of the best students at Miss Davis's new dance studio on Monroe Street. Ernestine has no interest in taking ballet lessons - especially with all those skinny girls running around in leotards - but she loves playing piano for the classes. So both girls are upset when a suspicious fire closes down the studio. Ernestine's outspoken friend Wilhelmina is convinced the vandalism is the work of white kids angry at the prospect of desegregation in their small southern town, but no one knows for sure. Can Ernestine and Amanda discover what really happened on Monroe Street? And have they finally found something they feel the same way about?