Relates the story of the summer Josh spends while his mother is in the hospital awaiting the birth of his baby sister, and his pet chicken Semolina, who talks but only to him, is almost killed by a red fox.
Because living with "modern-hippy" parents on a goat farm means fourteen-year-old Janie Gorman cannot have a normal high school life, she tries joining Jam Band, making friends with Monster, and spending time with elderly former civil rights workers.
An overweight, timid fifteen-year-old boy and his popular fourteen-year-old sister begin to overcome their guilt over their father's death and reconnect with each other and their emotionally-distant mother when they accompany her on a two-week speaking tour.
When their grandfather arranges for them to spend two week at Sunny Oaks, the four Alden children enjoy settling into the routines of farm life but become suspicious about a mysterious horse locked in the stables.
Upon learning that an older woman has moved into the run-down, creepy Crab Apple Hill Farm, nine-year-old Keeker rides her pony, Plum, over to find out whether the woman is a witch.
