Thirteen-year-old Kati is sent to her godparent’s house for the summer, while her parents decide if their marriage is worth saving. Unhappy over the prospect of being the child of a broken home, Kati is at first a reluctant guest of Alfred and Rachel Bean, deep in the Alabama countryside on the shores of Cove Lake. As Kati struggles for happiness and self-acceptance, she finds mystery, drama, and adventure - even a little romance. Her adventures begin the day she arrives, when she helps Alfred, a veterinarian, with a canine Caesarian section. She befriends Alex Parker, deaf from a skiing accident, whose mother, Cynthia, is overprotective as well as lonely. Her summer gets more complicated when she meets a half-Comanche agriculture pilot, ‘Mad Jack,’ who enlists her help in renovating a World War II-era Stearman bi-plane. Then she finds herself falling for who she thinks is ‘the perfect guy,’ the charming Skip Emmett. Kati takes on the role of mediator with Cynthia and Alex, and discovers she can make a difference somewhere in the world. Ultimately, she comes to terms with herself, her parents, her new and often confusing feelings for the opposite sex, and her newfound love of flying - in what is suddenly a too-brief summer.