Sixteen-year-old Parr Burrman and his family face some difficult times when word spreads through their rural Missouri town that his older sister is a lesbian, and she leaves the family farm to live with the daughter of the town's banker.
As part of an art class assignment, high school junior Kate unwittingly sketches a wanted murderer, propelling her into instant celebrity and extreme danger while her parents fret and police provide constant protection.
In 1811, nine-year-old Marie is sad to learn that her family will be moving from New Madrid to St. Louis, Missouri, but when terrible earthquakes destroy her town, everything changes. Includes facts about those earthquakes and their effects.
In 1860, eleven-year-old Becky Thatcher, new to St. Petersburg, Missouri, joins the boys at school in a bet to steal from the Widow Douglas in hopes of fulfilling a promise to have adventures that she made her brother Jon before he died.