Summary

The book opens in medias res, narrated from Gavin's first person perspective. Gavin and his older sister Pei-Pei watch their mother collapse to the floor. The mother goes unnamed in this chapter and remains that way throughout the rest of the novel. The children worry, but she gets back up: She had faked her death to test them, and scolds them for not reacting quickly enough. This chapter, like the rest of the novel, is told in the past tense.

Gavin describes their neighborhood, which is just outside of Anchorage, Alaska. When they first moved in, their father promised that neighbors would soon start moving in, but Gavin's internal narration reveals that never happened. Gavin is excited to watch the historic takeoff of the Challenger with his classmates in school.

Just before the Challenger departure, Gavin falls feverishly ill, and loses sense of time...