Faced with the prospect of an unhappy life in the Kingdom, fourteen-year-old Birle accompanies a young runaway nobleman on a journey south and falls into slavery in the citadel of a cruel prince.
Jeff's mother, who deserted the family years before, reenters his life and widens the gap between Jeff and his father, a rift that only truth, love, and friendship can heal.
In 1961 at a college for academically gifted women, three roommates who differ substantially from each other are brought together by a common interest in volleyball.
Now that the four abandoned Tillerman children are settled in with their grandmother, Dicey finds that their new beginnings require love, trust, humor, and courage.
When hard times among the People revive the old stories of the hero Jackaroo, an innkeeper's daughter follows her own quest to unlock the secret reality behind the legend.