The girls can't believe their luck when Mr. Ramsey has to travel out West for research, and he's taking all the BSG on a trip to a real Montana dude ranch, but the girls get stranded in a ghost town during a snowstorm.
All the seventh graders at Abigail Adams Junior High go on a mandatory summer outdoor adventure trip to Lake Rescue, but while there the Beacon Street girls learn more about themselves than they do about nature.
When her mother remarries, sticking her with an older stepsister, ten-year-old Billie Stubbs feels left out, so comes up with a plan to be adopted into a new family.