Summary

In the opening chapter, a woman (later identified as Liza Tillerman) tells her four children to be good and obey Dicey. Since Dicey is 13 years-old, she is the oldest. Liza then walks away from their car in a mall parking lot in Peewauket, Connecticut. Dicey soon begins fielding questions from her siblings. James is ten, Maybeth is nine, and Sammy is six. Dicey has no idea why they have stopped here. Their father left them years earlier, and Liza recently lost her job. They left their tiny home in Provincetown, Massachusetts, headed for Liza's aunt Cilla's house in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Dicey has memorized the address which is written on the paper sacks holding their clothes. James tells a story to entertain Sammy and Maybeth while Dicey tries to think through the events that brought them to this point. Liza had become stranger...