Years after being kicked out of his house because of his anger, John has nowhere to go but back home, and he tries to adjust to life with his family, but when tragedy catches up to him, he must decide between saving his family or saving himself.

Rinnie relates a childhood marked by privilege but also abuse, which steadily increases after her parents' divorce and remarriages, emotionally crippling Rinnie until a school counselor helps her begin to heal.

Sixteen-year-old Tessa, a budding photographer, has been living in suspended animation since her best friend was kidnapped at the age of fourteen, and when she suddenly returns, both of them, along with the people they love, must deal with the emotional aftermath of the terrible ordeal.

When fourteen-year-old Sam Walsh returns home after three years in the custody of his kidnapper, his older sister Beth and childhood friend Josh must deal with their survivors' guilt, their memories of what really happened the day Sam disappeared, and with the fact that Sam is not the boy they remember, but a troubled teen struggling to re-adapt to normal life.

Harangued by his father about his weight and bullied in all the many schools he has attended, teenaged Michael finds some comfort in his ability to experience "lucid" dreaming but then starts to notice that the things that happen in his dreams are starting to occur in the real world as well.

Twelve-year-old Lily mourns her brother, and has not spoken since the accident she feels she could have prevented, but the summer Tinny comes to town she is the only one who realizes Lily's secret.

Told in separate voices, seventeen-year-old Tallulah Leddel, overweight, insecure, and angry at being ridiculed by football star Nash, and Nash, lost and bitter after an accident, unexpectedly find themselves falling in love.

Having trespassed and explored the empty Hutchinson mansion, which seems haunted by the presence of a long-dead young girl, sixth grader Neely and her little brother become regular visitors when emotionally disturbed Curtis Hutchinson moves in.

Struggling with emotional problems and an eating disorder, Jayne, a Korean American college student living in New York City, is estranged from her accomplished older sister June, until June gets cancer.

Sixteen-year-old Lindsay, a former child star whose career ended when she developed the ability to hear what anyone, anywhere says about her and apparently suffered a nervous breakdown, comes to see this as an asset when, after her father's death, she learns that she is not alone.