Seeing her beloved grandfather making a mean face while he rehearses for one of his plays, Tamika becomes afraid that someday she will lose his love and he will make that mean face at her.
Before he died, Josef Tock spoke an unusual and frightening prophecy that his grandson Jimmy, who was born the same night, would have to endure five dark days in his life beginning in his twentieth year and ending in his thirtieth.
A Japanese American man recounts his grandfather's journey to America which he later also undertakes, and the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.
Ten-year-old Jake forms an unexpected bond with his estranged grandfather after his mother's injury puts the pair together in time for the Christmas holiday.
When her father disappears mysteriously on a trucking job, eleven-year-old Buddy moves in with relatives she hardly knows and finds herself in a dysfunctional family with secrets about the past.
