Samantha Montclare is not who she thought she was. Straitlaced and academically minded, she's knocked to her knees by an unexpected infatuation with the star of her local soccer team just as she discovers that her biological father is not the loving dad who raised her but a forbidding Italian aristocrat.
Within the social hierarchy of a wealthy suburban high school, Delaney Troy is so superior to a naive freshman such as Samantha that she can't speak to him without provoking taunts from his friends. Her feisty earnestness sucks her into tiffs with Delaney's girlfriends and makes her a target for bullying.
Delaney is gorgeous, but much of Samantha's fascination stems from his brazen honesty and bristling wit. His air of confidence inspires so powerful an interest he draws her in without even looking at her.
But how could she possibly date a guy like Delaney who insists he only wants to hook up -- and doesn't believe in love?
Will the scandalous truth about her conception threaten her happy home life? Must she find a place in her life for a strange new "father"?