Serena Velasco and her best friend Melody Grimshaw are dying to get out of their shrinking factory town. They've been coasting, eluding the bleakness of home and the banality of high school. In a rebellious turn, Serena begins to fixate on communism. Her Western Civ teacher catches on and gives her an independent study of class and upward mobility - what creates the spaces between us. Grimshaw sets goals of her own: to make it onto the cheerleading squad, find a job, and dismantle her family's hopeless reputation. But Grimshaw's quest for success becomes a fight for survival, and Serena's independent study gets a little too real. With the future of their friendship and their lives on the line, the stakes have never been so high.