Twelve-year-old Sadie promises that she will always be Wilma's best friend when their families leaves drought-stricken Missouri in 1933, but once in Texas, Sadie learns that she must try to make a new home--and new friends, too.
Suspicious of sixteen-year-old Marnie, a newcomer to their village, the residents accuse her of witchcraft when she discovers that the village madman is not crazy but deaf and she begins to communicate with him through hand gestures.
In order to befriend Zeke, a mute boy who is new in town, Croaker must swallow his pride, after which a bully's terrifying attack on Zeke's pet crow tests their friendship and courage.
Although David is blind, he knows his beloved cat Perkins better than anyone else in the family; but when Perkins is accidentally exchanged for a similar cat, no one wants to believe David.