When Gabby's single mother loses her job because of her addiction to prescription pain medication, her family's tenuous situation soon becomes perilous. Gabby must step up to help pay the bills and look after her younger siblings, but once school starts, her part-time waitressing job just isn't enough. Her mom won't let her drop out of school to work at the truckstop full-time, but she does finally allow her to leave her traditional high school behind to become a homeschool student.As Gabby's mom sinks deeper into addiction and disengages from her family, Gabby realizes she is going to have to homeschool herself if she is to have any hope of finishing high school and going to college someday. Then, Gabby's coworker Jodi, herself a high school dropout, complicates matters by asking to study with Gabby so she can finally finish high school too.Another high school dropout soon joins Gabby's study group, and before she knows it, Gabby is running her own Do-It-Yourself high school - DIY High - out of her local small-town library. Gabby finds herself in a position to help a lot of people, but will she be able to help herself? Will she get to go away to college like she's always dreamed, or will it fall to her to stay at home with her younger siblings forever and be a mother to them in the absence of their actual mom?