When Opal Mehta was six years old her parents moved from India to New Jersey so that they could get their child a place at the finest learning institution in the world: Harvard University. To achieve this goal, the Mehtas carefully and thoroughly constructed HOWGIH (How Opal Will Get Into Harvard). Opal’s life so far has strictly adhered to this plan – cello lessons at age 6, foreign languages at 7, mechanical engineering classes, horticulture and mosaic art classes after that. Now, armed with a sterling set of academic and extra-curricular credentials, Opal has applied to Harvard. Failure is not an option. But the first question the admissions officer asks her is ‘What do you like to do for fun?’ She is stumped. Studying and hard work are all she’s ever known. Boys hold no appeal (well, perhaps Sean Whalen, but he thinks she’s a nerd.) But when she tells her parents, they simply take it all in their stride. ‘There is no problem too big for us Mehtas,’ declares her father. And so HOWGAL – How Opal Will Get A Life – springs into action, with hilarious results …