During the summer of his eleventh year, Journey searches for reasons why his mother abandoned him and his older sister, Cat. Nurtured by loving grandparents, both children deal with their mother's absence in different ways. Journey is sad and angry, and spends endless hours trying to piece together old family photographs that were shredded by his unstable mother. Cat stays busy helping her grandmother around the farm. Grandfather, a wise and caring man, uses his camera and love of photography to help the children find a past and come to terms with their mother's departure. By the end of the novel, both children learn that a family means more than having a mother and father in the home.
