Summary

Willow Chance’s loving, protected life is destroyed when her parents are killed in a car wreck. With no close relatives or friends to take her in, social services workers search for a permanent home for her. As she bonds with a group of unusual friends, Willow works through her grief using the form of life of which she is most familiar, a garden. Willow improves the lives of those around her in unexpected ways and is rewarded with a surprise set of guardians.

In Chapter 1, Willow eats an ice cream cone with her new friend Mai, Mai’s brother Quang-ha and Dell Duke, the adult who brought them to the restaurant. After they finish their treat, Dell grudgingly drives the three past the park, Hagen Oaks, as Mai suggested, but they don’t get out of the car. Willow has called both...