Robin finds a haven from the world and the confusion she feels in the velvet room of the deserted McGurdy mansion. The story is set in California during the American Great Depression.
The year, 1907, when Carly turns eleven is filled with playing detective, watching condors, observing a fierce feud involving her family's Southern California ranch, and coping with unexpected tragedies.
Fifteen-year-old Summer, daughter of a northern California flower child, is torn by confused feelings and difficult relationships with friends, employers, and especially her mother.
Locked in one evening with the vast wealth of the Alcott-Simpson department store, a fourteen-year-old boy meets an unusual girl who hints about the mysterious "they" and tells him of strange goings-on in the building.
Neely and her little brother, Grub, sneak into the deserted Halcyon House in spite of the rumors that it is haunted; but when the owners suddenly return, she is warned to protect her brother.
The Stanley kids and their stepsister try to hide a dog that Blair finds, keep David out of the clutches of the school bully, and find out if some escaped convicts really are nearby. But who, or what, is Blair's nightmare?.
