What would you do if you were told to kidnap your sister?Lissa Hastings has a big problem. Her mother, who used to be a semi-well-known cabaret singer, has now become a very well known alcoholic who realizes that she can't take care of Lissa's eleven-year-old sister Marnie any more. She tells Lissa that if she can't trick Marnie into leaving home and going to live with her, she's going to turn Marnie over to Social Services.

Lissa doesn't know how she's going to handle becoming a single parent overnight. She's the youngest student at a prestigious art school in Chicago, and if it weren't for the miniature rooms that she's been lucky enough to sell to collectors, she'd have practically no money at all. What she doesn't know yet is that having her high-spirited younger sister come and live with her is going to be one of the richest experiences in her life.

Chicago Blues is a funny and heartwarming story about two sisters trying to make a life together in the big city.