Twelve-year-old Andrej, nine-year-old Tomas, and their baby sister Wilma flee their Romany encampment when it is attacked by Germans during World War II, and in an abandoned town they find a zoo where the animals tell their stories, helping the children understand what has become of their lives and what it means to be free.

On the Hill of Dust, in the remote mountains of Mexico, an eleven-year-old Mixtec boy called Teo lives with his family and the animals that he has healed, but one day a Romany caravan rolls into town with a young girl who calls herself Esma, the Gypsy Queen of Lightning--it is the beginning of a life-long friendship that will change both their lives.

Twelve-year-olds Ambrose, Tom, and Frankie are transported to the boys' hometown of Freedom Falls, Ohio, in 1852 when Frankie blows her Romani family's magical trombone, and to return home they'll have to use both Morse code and the ancient form of divination known as the I-ching.