Since 1950, seven out of every ten girls in America have owned a Barbie doll. Paige Sheehan was not one of them. Her mother believed that playing with a doll whose breasts made up half of her body mass was inappropriate for a nine-year-old girl.

During her childhood, Paige was forced to sneak to a friend's house for her Barbie fixes, where she was directed to play Barbie's less glamorous younger sister, Skipper. Now more than twenty years later, Paige has a theory that women are either Barbies or Skippers-and she still longs to play the superior role. Barbie women come readily stocked with beauty and accessories galore. Skippers are the younger sisters, impatient to grow up from their awkward adolescence and fill the high-heeled shoes of their glamorous sibling.

Confronted with a failed relationship, a dying father, and a legal entanglement, Paige is forced to look beyond packaging. Unlike Barbie, born with an empire of houses, clothes, and companions, Paige discovers the value of being what she considers to be less than perfect. With a new love interest and a renewed sense of self, Paige takes on the seemingly Barbie-dominated world around her with wit, style, and determination.