Two Kentucky girls, Ivy June Mosley of Thunder Creek and Catherine Combs of Lexington, are participating in their schools' seventh grade student exchange program. Taking turns, each girl leaves home for two weeks to live and attend classes with the other, and writes about the experience in a journal. In some ways, the girls are worlds apart. Ivy June lives up in the mountains with her grandparents, Mammaw and Papaw Mosley, because it's so crowded at her parents' place. Catherine lives with her family in a beautiful house with plenty of space for everyone. As the girls spend time in each other's neck of the woods, they find out that they've both been keeping secrets. And when, without warning, Ivy June and Catherine face the terror of not knowing what's happening to their loved ones, they discover that they may be more alike than different