After learning about the American Revolution on a family trip to Boston, Massachusetts, Judy Moody makes her own Declaration of Independence and tries to prove that she's responsible enough to have more freedoms, such as a higher allowance and her own bathroom.

Zeke wants to bring home the class hamster, so to prove that he is responsible he promises his mother that he will take care of the family dog for a whole week--after that it is one disaster after another.