Shortly before the Revolutionary War, nine-year-old Felicity, who lives in Williamsburg, is torn between supporting the tariff-induced tea boycott and saving her friendship with Elizabeth, a young loyalist from England.

In 1934, during the Depression, Kit's cantankerous uncle comes to live in the Cincinnati boardinghouse run by her parents, enlisting her aid in transcribing his complaining letters to the editor of the local newspaper and inspiring her to write a different kind of letter of her own.

In 1934 Kit finds that she has hard lessons to learn about the Depression both at home, where she is helping her mother run a boarding house while her father looks for a new job, and at school, where a fight spoils the preparations for the Thanksgiving pageant.

"In the 1950s, if fourth-grader Maryellen is going to invent a flying machine, become famous, and get her big sister Joan's wedding off the ground, she will need all the help and all the friends she can get!"--

Maryellen tiene grandes planes para su cumpleaños, y se pone muy feliz cuando su viejo amigo Davy aparece para ayudarle. Si tan sólo Wayne 'el insoportable' los dejara en paz...pero está pegado a Davy todo el tiempo. Quizá su hermana Joan tenía razón cuando dijo que las niñas no podían ser amigas de los niños en cuarto grado. Luego, en las vacaciones familiares, Maryellen descubre que Joan no está muy segura sobre sus planes. Lo que sí...

While her father is away fighting in World War II, Molly finds her life full of change as she eats terrible vegetables from the victory garden and plans revenge on her brother for ruining her Halloween.