A Hollywood actress, who had been competing with Sammy's mother for an important role, is murdered, but thirteen-year-old Sammy and her friend Marissa are on the case.
Thirteen-year-old Kelly, softball star, has to face new challenges in her life, including assignment to a different softball team and her mother's new boyfriend.
When thirteen-year-old Chrissa is sent to her paternal grandmother's farm, she learns more about her absent father and some of the reasons for her distant relationship with her mother.
Tallahassee lives with her freespirited mother, but when Mother goes to L.A. to try her luck in TV and movies, Tallahassee goes with her uncle whose conventional lifestyle makes her question her mother's values--and her own.