"The suffragists are all over the newspapers these days. Father fumes and frets about it and Mother soothes him, saying it will never be put into law. " Everything is changing for women in 1913. The "Washington Post" is full of headlines about the suffragists. More women are working to support themselves. The nearly 100-year battle for women's right to vote is coming closer to victory. Francesca Vigilucci's father rages about it; her mother avoids the topic altogether. Francesca only knows she doesn't want the future her parents have planned for her, a life of privilege and good works as the obedient wife to a successful man. The only person who seems to understand is Laura, a cleaning girl in the Vigilucci household.

Then a prominent suffragist, in town for the White House picket line and a suffragist parade, comes to one of Mother's charity luncheons. Francesca finds the courage to admit her secret dream of becoming a reporter -- but how can she ever persuade her parents?