When twelve-year-old Ben moves with his family to a town on the shore of Lake Ontario he finds a friend who seems to be a witch and who helps him meet the problems associated with his moving and with his stormy relationships with his father and big sister.
After his father remarries, twelve-year-old Jeremy begins to feel that there is no place for him in a family which now includes a stepsister his age who is a superb athlete.
An elderly uncle given to occasional bouts of confusion causes the Andersons to wonder if they are able to care for him or if he should be sent to a nursing home.
Kelly's involvement in helping design a production of her junior high school's drama club, spurred on by encouragement from her artistic grandmother, helps her discover her own artistic identity.
