A shepherd boy follows a lost sheep to the secret lake in which the moon bathes, but greedy townspeople soon learn that its banks are encrusted with silver, gold, and precious jewels.
Various disasters threaten to stop Poppa and the children from getting to the lake in their rattletrap car, but they manage to come up with an ingenious solution to each problem.
Seventeen-year-old Genesis Sommer's father disappears on Moosehead Lake near their small-town Maine home in mid-November, leaving her to cope with the pressure of keeping her family together, even while rumors about the event plague her.