Sixteen-year-old April, a high school junior, and her friend Vi, a senior, get a crash course in reality as the list of things they should not do becomes a list of things they did while living parent-free in Westport, Connecticut, for the semester.
When their father is jailed for embezzlement and their mother suffers a nervous breakdown, four young people try to cope with the many changes in their lives and the new responsibilities thrust upon them.
Twelve-year-old Koby, who has lost a foot in an accident, sees a chance to prove her self-reliance to her parents when she tries to rescue two stranded pilot whales near her home in the Florida Keys.
Thirteen-year-old Timothy, more interested in reading than in physical activity, reluctantly accompanies his enthusiastic father o a camping trip and, when he accidentaly becomes lost in the woods, discovers that he is capable of surviving on his own.
When Angel's self-absorbed mother leaves her and her younger brother with their poor great-grandmother, the eleven-year-old girl worries not only about her mother and brother, her imprisoned father, the frail old woman, but also about a mysterious man who begins sharing with her the wonder of the stars.
Thirteen-year-old Timothy, more interested in reading than in physical activity, reluctantly accompanies his enthusiastic father on a camping trip and, when he accidently becomes lost in the woods, discovers that he is capable of surviving on his own.
Robert, with his best friend, Tom, and sister, Emma, attempt to save the other survivors from the strange parallel world before winter sets in and destroys them all.
