Marty finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, and tries to hide it from his family and the dog's real owner, a mean-spirited man who mistreats his dogs.
During Daniel's summer visit with his grandmother in York County, Pennsylvania, characters and events from his visit to York, England, appear and reappear in mysterious ways. Sequel to Shadows on the Wall.
Eleven-year-old Marty, having acquired his beloved beagle Shiloh by blackmailing his drunken, abusive neighbor Judd, worries that Judd might yet try to get revenge, but the situation is resolved through an act of kindness.
With their move back to Ohio getting closer and a summer full of pranks and competitions with the Hartford boys ending, the Malloy girls decide they want to prove they are in charge and try to pull off one last trick.
When mean and angry Judd, who has never known kindness, takes to drinking and mistreats his dogs, Marty discovers how deep a hurt can go and how long it takes to heal.
When motherless Alice turns thirteen she feels in-between, no longer a child but not yet a woman, and discovers that growing up can be both frustrating and wonderful.
