Since the birth of his sister, ten-year-old Carmel struggles to meet his parents’ “big kid” expectations of him. He turns his feelings into questions and confides them to Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, known for her ancient wisdom. When Sirius enrolls Carmel, her first human student, at her preparatory school for young stars, she does so believing that a child cannot possibly disrupt the school’s million-year-old curriculum. But along the way to star-like-brightness, Carmel discovers that he must break and rebuild the school’s entire learning philosophy. And also, his own.