Summary

Chapter 1 is essentially the prologue. The prologue’s narrator misses her best friend. She has just had the worst week of her life. She decides to call her best friend after many months of not speaking.

In Chapter 2, 10-year-old Tully Hart meets her mother, Dot, for the first time. Tully lives with her loving grandparents. Dot brings her to a protest. There, Tully becomes lost in the crowd. She spends the night sleeping on the sidewalk. The next morning, a policeman brings her home to her grandparents. Over the years, Tully writes her mom letters that she puts into a scrapbook. By the time Tully is 14, she is the most popular girl at junior high. Her popularity helps distract her from how much she misses her mother.

Chapter 3 introduces Kate Mularkey, who lives with her parents and little brother Sean. Kate always bickers...