When 14-year-old Sarah Crane is seriously hurt by her alcoholic father Ed, she is sent to live with a foster family. However she soon realizes that her new foster family has only taken her in for the money they receive from the county. Sarah has difficulty making friends at her new school, though connects with Nick Dunnigan, a young boy recently released from a mental facility. Sarah also befriends Bettina Phillips, who lives in an old mansion known as Shutters.
