When Allie is contacted by the ghost of a dog, she and Dub investigate the surly new boy at school and his father, who may be running a puppy mill, to see if they are involved.
Alone in the frontier wilderness in the winter of 1839 while his father is recovering from an injury, eleven-yearold Nathan runs afoul of the renegade killer known as Weasel and makes a surprising discovery about the concept of revenge.
While coping with his parents' separation, eleven-year-old Skeet spends most of Spring Break in his skiff on a Florida river, where he finds a manatee shot to death and begins looking for the killer.
Jessie, an elderly calligrapher who writes announcements and notices of birth, marriage, and death for the townsfolk, discovers that she has the ability to predict the future in her writings.
Twelve-year-old Ben must cope with the loss of his father, who died the year before, and his mother's overprotectiveness when he enters the annual Striped Bass Derby on Martha's Vineyard.
