Boogie Bass feels his best friend, Nolan, is better than he at everything, even caring for Boogie's little brothers, but an after-school camp reveals Boogie's talent at communicating using American Sign Language. Includes facts about ASL.

It is 1805 and Mary Lambert has always felt safe among the deaf community of Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard where practically everyone communicates in a shared sign language, but recent events have shattered her life; her brother George has died, land disputes between English settlers and the Wampanoag people are becoming increasingly bitter, and a "scientist" determined to discover the origins of the islands' widespread deafness has decided she makes...