In 1908, eleven-year-old Innie joins the library club at a settlement house that serves immigrant families of Boston's North End, but when items and money disappear from the settlement house, Innie's past as a troublemaker puts her under suspicion.

Sixteen-year-old Will Spencer leaves home to become a peddler, but gets more than he bargained for when he agrees to go to Kentucky, steal two slaves, and help them reach their brother in Canada.

In their Pennsylvania town in 1942 twelve-year-old Charlotte and her classmates collect scrap metal for the war effort only to have it disappear from the school basement.