Fourteen-year-old Duff Rafferty, an only child from St. Paul, MN looses his parents to an accident, and flown to Washington, D.C. to be cared for by relatives, only to be apprehended by airport security when the relatives fail to show up. After a day of being shuffled by law enforcement and child welfare services, Duff is placed in a small home in a fictional community outside the Washington area with two mean women, and becomes a prisoner in the basement bedroom. Friends and relations back home do not know where he is, or what happened to him. He cannot phone nor write to anyone, nor does he have access to a computer to send email. During the next several months of grief, fear, and isolation, Duff is subject to bullying in his new school, and frequent scolding by the two women in their home. However, an unraveling chain of events changes the atmosphere in the home, and Duff is overwhelmed by the weight that is suddenly lifted off his shoulders.