Skye Patterson, a girl just shy of her sixteenth birthday, lives in North Carolina with her parents and her autistic sister Starr, who is twenty-two months younger than herself. One day, Starr wanders off at the mall while Skye is supposed to be watching her, which leads to an altercation at a bookstore that ends with both girls getting arrested. After the incident, Skye's family starts to fall apart, and she tries to keep them together.
Orange Clouds, Blue Sky contains examples of:
- Bitch Slap: Skye accuses Mom of putting her lying, parasitic "friends" ahead of her family. Mom slaps her in the face.
- Caretaker Reversal: Mom spends years taking care of Starr, giving her whatever she wants and trying to "protect" her from any negative experiences or any kind of work. After Mom turns into a drug-addicted Sleepy Depressive, Starr feeds her and washes her dishes. She refers to her as "Baby Mommy."
- Cope by Creating: Starr deals with her problems, including Mom's mental health issues, by drawing with crayons. When she's drawing, she can shut out everything bad and focus only on her work.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Skye gives Starr a kitten, which she appropriately names Kitty.
- Exiled to the Couch: Late one night, Skye finds her dad asleep on the couch in his office. She realizes to her dismay that her parents have been sleeping apart for a while.
- Food Slap: While the family is staying with relatives, Starr helps Uncle Pete and Aunt Nell bake an anniversary cake for her parents. Instead of thanking her, Mom tells Pete and Nell off for "making" her work for them, tells Starr "Enough about your stupid cake," and lectures her about how cake gives you cavities. Starr throws a large portion of the cake at Mom, who receives little sympathy from the family, since she'd lashed out at so many people that evening.
- How Dad Met Mom: Skye's parents met at Con Edison while Mom was working in customer service. Dad encouraged her to pursue her interest in real estate. Now they're married, and Mom has a successful career.
- Jacob and Esau: Starr was always closer to Mom, while Skye was always closer to Dad. After Mom kicks Dad out of the house and he doesn't answer Skye's calls, she feels abandoned.
- Line-of-Sight Name: Skye was born in a hospital room that had a blue sky with clouds painted on a ceiling.
- Mess of Woe: After Skye's parents separate and Skye moves in with Pete and Nell, Skye's mom, who is normally a neat freak, starts letting dishes pile up in the sink, while her room becomes a horrible mess. When Skye starts staying with her again, she makes an effort to keep it together so people won't find out about her problems.
- My Beloved Smother: Mom won't let Starr do chores, even though she wants to help out. When Skye and Starr are staying on Nana's farm, she has Starr help out with the animals, which she enjoys, but Mom accuses Nana of turning Skye and Starr into slaves.
- Parental Fashion Veto: The day Starr runs off, Skye wears a short denim shirt that she had to secretly change into at a Burger King. She regrets it after Starr hits her, causing her to fall into a bookshelf and her skirt to ride up. Later, she gets chewed out by both her parents for wearing it.
- Rape as Backstory: Mom was raped as a teenager by a popular boy, who got away with it thanks to his rich father. She got pregnant and got an abortion, resulting in lesions on her uterus that left her ability to have kids in question until she had Skye. Her trauma resulted in bouts of depression, which she hid from her kids until she couldn't anymore.
- Too Unhappy to Be Hungry: After Mom and Dad separate after a horrible fight at Nana's, Mom stays in her room talking to no one. Skye tries to cook her meals, but Mom won't eat most of them.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Mom's group of four "friends" isolate her by sharing false rumors about Dad and feed her addiction by selling prescription drugs.
