Penny comes home from school eager to share her very own song, but must wait until the time is right to teach it to her parents and the babies.

When twelve-year-old Ben visits his uncle in Oregon, he feels caught in the strained relationship between his mother and her brother while he also begins to accept himself as an artist.

Twelve-year-old Mitch and his mother are spending the summer with his grandparents at Bird Lake after his parents separate, and ten-year-old Spencer and his family have returned to the lake where Spencer's little brother drowned long ago, and as the boys become friends and spend time together, each of them begins to heal.

When ten-year-old Adine's mother has a new baby, eccentric Aunt Irene comes to stay and shares Adine's bedroom--an event which requires a great deal of adjustment.

"On his eighth birthday, Billy Miller wishes for something exciting to happen. None of his wishes are answered the way he expects, but he does have lots of surprises-- and the final one is possibly the best one ever"--