말리안은 조부모님과 와바나키를 예약하면서 시간을 보내는 걸 좋아한다. 할머니 댁에 있는 동안 갑작스럽게 모든 이동이 중단되면서 할머니 댁에 고립되게 된다. 새로운 바이러스가 사람들을 병들게 했기 때문이었고, 말리안은 당분간 할머니 댁에서 지내야 했다. 

모두가 팬데믹을 걱정했지만, 말리안은 가족과 공동체를 어떻게 안전하게 지킬지 알고 있었다. 말리안은 할머니와 할아버지를, 할머니와 할아버지는 말리안을 보호하는 것이다. 말리안은 친구와 놀기 위해 밖에 나가지 않았고, 할머니와 할아버지에게 화상채팅 하는 법을 알려주었다. 그리고 할머니와 할아버지의 이야기를 들으며 배웠다. 그리고 레즈에 사는 개들 중 하나인 말섬이 문 앞에 나타났을 때, 말리안과 할머니, 할아버지는 말섬도 서로 보호할 대상이라는 것을 알았다.

From the U.S.'s foremost indigenous children's author comes a middle grade verse novel set during the COVID-19 pandemic, about a Wabanaki girl's quarantine on her grandparents' reservation and the local dog that becomes her best friend

Malian loves spending time with her grandparents at their home on a Wabanaki reservation. She’s there for a visit when, suddenly, all travel shuts down. There’s a new virus making people sick, and Malian will have to stay with her grandparents for the duration.
 
Everyone is worried about the pandemic, but Malian knows how to keep her family and community safe: She protects her grandparents, and they protect her. She doesn’t go outside to play with friends, she helps her grandparents use video chat, and she listens to and learns from their stories. And when Malsum, one of the dogs living on the rez, shows up at their door, Malian’s family knows that he’ll protect them too.
 
Told in verse inspired by oral storytelling, this novel about the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the ways Malian’s community has cared for one another through plagues of the past, and how they keep caring for one another today.