When ten-year-old Howard has to move with his family to a distant state, he is forced to live on a street named Chester Pewe, adjust to a new school, and get used to being shadowed by the little girl in a nearby house.
During the summer before their seventh-grade year, Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey tackle difficulties, including family problems, crushes, moving, and making new friends.
When the Tennessee Valley Authority builds a dam at Wolf Creek to bring electricity to Tollers Ridge, everyone in Geneva's family prepares to move to higher ground except for Granny, who refuses to leave her home.
Shola, feeling like an outsider since moving from Nigeria to Canada, tries to ease the transition by seeing if his soccer skills will transfer to the game of hockey.
While Libby and Ian, who live with their non-conformist father, experience the problems of starting over at a new high school, their mother resurfaces in their lives and wants them to come and live with her in California.
Eleven-year old Robbie and his thirteen-year-old sister, Peggy, involve themselves in some elaborate schemes to discourage their widowed father's budding romance and to persuade him to move back to their old hometown.
