Fourth-grader Amber Brown must make some important decisions when her mother and Max move their wedding date up and prepare to buy a house together, while her father makes some bad choices of his own.
At the end of third grade, Amber is excited about her trip with her aunt to London and Paris, where she will see her father again, but her plans change when she comes down with chicken pox.
Eleven-year-old aspiring artist Skate experiences many changes when she enters middle school, finds her best friend drifting away from her, and loses her beloved great-uncle.