In the early 1950s, eleven-year-old Dal accompanies his stepfather Mr. Sabatini on a business trip to a rural community in Idaho, where Dal makes new friends and becomes involved in a scheme involving a uranium mine.
Fifteen year old Tim, a Russian-born boy finding a new life in America, is not sure he likes his exclusive boarding school until he meets the lovely Phoebe and experiences both love and sex.
Kate thinks that the antics of her little sister, Abby, are unbearable and sets about to find another home for her but soon realizes that in spite of all she needs her.