Quinn Wagner's fifteenth summer starts off well. She has a part-time job and a crush on a young neighbor. Only one thing makes Quinn feel uneasy this summer of 1933. Her father, Beau John, has lost his job. He is working far up the coast from their Seattle home and can only come home on weekends. Beau John is greatly missed, as he is the hero of the neighborhood, everyone's favorite storyteller, and the man to whom folks always turn when they're in trouble. Now Quinn fears that her father himself may be in trouble. She overhears a stranger angrily threaten him, and the next weekend Beau John does not return home. If he is in danger, what can she do to help? Before the story ends, Quinn must confront some surprising facts about her father - and about herself.