Alaskans Luke, Chickie, Sonny, Donna, and Amiq relate their experiences in the early 1960s when they are forced to attend a Catholic boarding school where, despite different tribal affiliations, they come to find a sort of family and home.
Sixteen-year-old Francesca could use her outspoken mother's help with the problems of being one of a handful of girls at a parochial school that has just turned co-ed, but her mother has suddenly become severely depressed.
In 1878, after her mother's death on the way West, thirteen-year-old Lizzy Enders is left by her father at a convent school in Sante Fe, where she must deal with being the only non-Catholic student and where she plays a part in what some consider a miracle.
A middle school boy's life is changed when Jessica, a girl disfigured by burns, starts attending his Catholic school while receiving treatment at a local hospital.
Paul Varderman, a secondary student in an English Catholic School, is a loner until, just as he is becoming friends with "the freaks, " the school bully encourages Paul to join his gang and gives him a knife to carry as an incentive.
While struggling to cope with his very strict Catholic school, fourteen-year-old James fights his mother over the right to make his own decisions without having to lie to her.
In 1949, thirteen-year-old Francine goes to Catholic school in Los Angeles where she becomes best friends with a girl who questions authority and is frequently punished by the nuns, causing Francine to question her own values.
The murder of a student at an all-boys Catholic school in the border city of El Paso, Texas, throws the lives of a diverse group of friends into chaos.
Fifteen-year-old Ryan McIntyre is sent to St. Ignatius Catholic School where he falls under the spell of the popular Father Sebastian, an exorcist assigned to work with some of the school's most troubled teens.
Tenth grader Javier Avila is chosen, against his will, to be the anchorman for the school's new televised announcement program and fears he will fail in front of the entire school.
