Joaquin struggles with feelings of insecurity because he is almost eighteen and has never been adopted. Grace will not tell her siblings that she was pregnant, for fear that they may judge her for abandoning Peach. When Grace asks if they would like to find their biological mother, both Maya and Joaquin refuse, feeling unwanted by her. Maya is moved that they all look like one another, and their family resemblance makes her feel as if she finally belongs. They meet him at the arts center where he works and Grace is so moved by the reunion that she is brought to tears. Maya and Grace send an email to Joaquin, to bring all three siblings together.

Maya resents and is jealous of her younger sister Lauren. Maya sticks out as the odd one out because of her dark hair.

Maya feels like she is a misfit in her own home, because her adoptive parents are redheads and had a redheaded baby shortly after they adopted her. Maya and Grace connect because of their shared sense of sarcasm, but Maya has a darker sense of humor. Maya agrees to meeting her and Grace's family visit Maya's large mansion home. Grace sends Maya an email asking if she would be willing to meet. Grace's parents reveal to her that they know very little about her birth mother, Melissa Taylor, but that she has two siblings, Maya and Joaquin, who live nearby. This motivates her to search for her biological mother, who had also given her up for adoption to her current family. After giving Peach up for adoption, Grace feels an empty space in her life, and desires to feel tethered to someone again. Max and his family want nothing to do with the baby and renounce all rights to her. She gives birth on the same night as her high school homecoming dance, and resents that the father of the child, Max, was getting crowned homecoming king while their baby was being born. She searches for a good family for her baby, who she calls Peach, but often feels guilty about her decision. When Grace becomes pregnant at 16, she must make the most difficult decision of her life, and give up her baby for adoption. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Benaway, Robin.

Far from the tree robin