"I've got my entire life planned out for the next ten years--including my PhD and Pulitzer Prize," claims sixteen-year-old overachiever Vassar Spore, the daughter of overachiever parents, who, in true overachiever fashion, named her after an elite women's college. Vassar expects her sophomore summer to include both AP and AAP (Advanced Advanced Placement) classes. Surprise! Enter a world-traveling relative who sends her plans into a tailspin when she blackmail's Vassar's parents into forcing their only child to backpack with her through Southeast Asia.