The summer she turns 12, Hattie Owen is steeped in the routines of her small town life until the startling arrival of an uncle no one has ever spoken about. Now that Uncle Adam's "school" - an institution for the mentally disabled - is closing, Hattie's family must deal with a childlike young man whose existence they've denied for years. Hattie suddenly experiences a summer in which she learns living life fully means facing both the good times and the bad.