When enrolled in the most prestigious tech school in the country, a poor but courageous teenage girl must prove her genius and save her family, despite the myriad challenges she faces.

Seventeen-year-old Zara Sodangi isn’t having the best of times. Her welder father is a thorn in her flesh, and her akara-selling mother is barely managing the burden of providing for the family. Zara’s friend in the hood challenges her to apply for a scholarship to Makemation.

Makemation is not only the most prestigious tech institute in the country because of its seven-figure fees and the opportunities accessible to its students and alums, but its standards are also rigorously high and reserved for the best minds. Zara is convinced that she doesn’t qualify—but things get worse at home with her sick father and distressed mother, so Zara is determined to get selected for the entrance assessment Ideathon, which, in her mind, is certainly a wild goose chase. She’s beyond shocked to not only be given admission into Makemation’s yearlong program but also to learn that the top graduating student earns a huge monetary prize.

Zara is determined to win and reverse the fortunes of her family—but while Makemation is a beautiful campus with top-notch facilities and brilliant tutors, Zara’s classmates are standoffish to “the new poor girl.” She struggles to fit in, hiding her impoverished background and feigning a classy front. Soon, the mentorship of the good-natured and avant-garde Miss Zanzi, the school’s most loved and sought-after instructor—and, of course, Zara’s sharp mind—helps her become the second smartest student. Gradually, she makes friends, but twenty-year-old Anabelle Jenkins remains condescending toward her.

As Zara pivots into the world of product design, data analytics, and artificial intelligence, she faces conflicts on many fronts: worsening conditions at home, the antagonism of some classmates, social profiling, fear that she won’t win the best student award, and the struggle to keep up with demanding lectures and take-home assignments. She manages to weather the storms, learning new things—not just about academics, but about herself and life—and she begins to come into her own as a young woman. But just as things start to look up for her, a string of unfortunate incidents knocks Zara down.

It is unclear if she can make it through the school and graduate. Zara, who has defeated many demons in the course of her journey, must look within to overcome the strongest one—a crippling lack of self-worth—if she is to stand a chance at victory. But as the session comes to an end, will Zara find the will or the time to accept herself for who she is and rise above her struggles?