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 known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat his dogs.
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.
Josie and Sarah, two West Virginia fourth-graders, break one of the legs of Sarah's mother's piano bench, and must take a series of odd jobs in order to raise the money to repair it.
When he and his older brother Gordon are left camping alone in the Rocky Mountains, twelve-year-old Doug faces his fear of heights and his feelings about Gordon--with the help of a cougar.
Wally and his three brothers declare war on the three girls who move into the house across the river. The three Malloy sisters try to get even with the four Hatford brothers.
