Mclean Sweet has been on the road for a while - four homes in two years. Every single time, she pretends to be someone else, everyone but Mclean. Ever since her parents' split, she ignored her mother most of the time, never forgiving her for cheating and leaving her dad for a basketball coach in the high-society lifestyle, and took care of her dad wherever they went. Somehow, Mclean liked that - just disappearing midway with her dad, so she didn't need to cling onto anything, or anyone. But then when she moved into Lakeview, she was stuck with her name, Mclean, where she couldn't pretend to be anyone but herself. There she meets Dave, a scientific prodigy, who teaches her to be more like herself. Slowly, everything seemed to be perfect for the moment - she had friends, and she felt welcomed for who she was. But as her mother became more desperate and clingy to her, even threatening to bring her lawyer back to the custody agreement, she realizes that her father might need to move to Hawaii, where he tells Mclean to go back to their old home to stay with her mother. Refusing, and confused, she leaves for the forced 'quality time' with her mother, and overhears her mother talking, and thinks her own mother doesn't care for her anymore. Leaving for the only place she could think of, a motel named Poseidon where she and her mother often went to before the divorce, she cries to herself before her parents arrive, frantic. Her parents find out how big of an impact the divorce was on Mclean, and instead of taking her back to Mclean's original home, her mother decides that Mclean should stay in Lakeview with her friends to finish the final year of high school. There, Mclean graduates, alongside her boyfriend, Dave.