With the advice of her stepfather, eleven-year-old Katie takes on the job of feeding an abused junkyard dog and building it a doghouse for shelter during the hard winter.
In 1905, while pursuing her dreams of becoming an artist, the twelve-year-old daughter of the Cape Light lighthouse keeper learns the value of family, home, and friendship.
While living in Cape Light during the years 1905 to 1906, thirteen-year-old Amanda struggles to obey her widowed father's orders not to see the boy she loves, despite her angry resentment of her parent's courtship of a local widow.
During a scarlet fever outbreak in 1906, thirteen-year-old Lizabeth must decide whether it is more important to be Strawberry Queen or to be at the bedside of her younger sister, who is ill.
In 1906, mortified by her mother's suffragist activities that cause the family to move from New York City to Cape Light, fourteen-year-old Rose sees no value in her mother's feminist views until she tries to enter a horse riding competition open only to boys.
Kate, a girl living in New York City, takes the subway to the beach, where she imagines being a mermaid, swimming with the fishes, and becoming queen of the sea.