Twelve-year-old Della Kelly of Maryville, North Carolina, tries to come to terms with her mother's mental illness while her father struggles to save the farm from a record-breaking drought.
As Pelican Island's history-making drought wears on, the water level on Bex and Davey's beloved marsh reveals the hand of a statue that has been underneath the water for who knows how long, and the siblings are determined to find out more.
Through a hot, dry Oklahoma summer, twelve-year-old Franny tends wild animals brought by her neighbors, hears gossip during a weekly quilting bee, befriends a new neighbor who has some big secrets, and learns to hope.