Brothers Genie and Ernie, 11 and 13 years old respectively, arrive in Virginia with their parents, who are dropping the boys off to spend a month with their dad’s parents. Their own parents are going to spend that time in Jamaica, resolving their marital problems. The boys’ dad hasn’t seen his own father in almost 10 years, an estrangement that Genie doesn’t understand. Genie has only met his father’s mother once when she visited the family in New York. Genie’s grandmother greets the family when they arrive late at night, and everyone goes to bed.

When he wakes up the next morning, Genie finds a toy fire truck in the guest bedroom that he later learns belonged to his deceased uncle Wood. When the family eats breakfast with Genie’s grandparents, Genie meets his grandfather, Brooke, and discovers that Brooke is blind. 

After breakfast, Genie indignantly asks his parents why they didn’t tell him about his grandfather’s blindness. His father tells him that Brooke refused to let him tell Genie and Ernie about it until they met him in person—his grandfather doesn’t like people to form preconceptions about him because he can’t see.