When Naomi's absent mother resurfaces to claim her, Naomi runs away to Mexico with her great-grandmother and younger brother in search of her father.

When Angel's self-absorbed mother leaves her and her younger brother with their poor great-grandmother, the eleven-year-old girl worries not only about her mother and brother, her imprisoned father, the frail old woman, but also about a mysterious man who begins sharing with her the wonder of the stars.

Zeke's school is having a fund-raiser and the student who sell the most cake mix will get four tickets to Thrillsville Amusement Park, but Zeke is not having much luck until his great-grandmother gives him a lesson in salesmanship--and he takes his little sister with him.

While his great-grandmother seeks her deceased husband, ten-year-old Malcolm and his best friend Dandy have no trouble finding a ghost on which to test Malcolm's latest gadget--a ghost zapper.