The minute the school bus carrying Nate Chance and his little sister, Junie, pulls up in front of his familyโs farmhouse, Nate can tell somethingโs terribly wrong: Somehow his father has been wounded by a gunshot. Nate sees him stagger across the yard, then watches as the police take him away.
Then, nothing. Nobody in the family will say what happened, or where Nateโs dad has gone. At school, his best friend, Larry, wonโt talk to him, and kids whisper that his dadโs a โpsycho.โ Back home, police keep showing up with questions for his mom; and then thereโs Junie, worried that Mom will sell her beloved pony and counting on her big brother to figure out a way to reach their dad.
But the science fair is coming up, and Nate has a plan. If he can just win first prize with his amazing cloud chamber project, heโll get to go to the state finals, near the hospital where his dadโs been locked away. And since it was his dad who taught him to love scienceโand the starsโit seems like maybe the magic of the cloud chamber can bring the family together again, too.
Too bad he has to work on it with the weirdest, most unpopular girl in school, Naomi, with her goofy hair and nutty idea that the two of them should be best friends. The craziest part is, she just might be right.