Eleven-year-old Kyna, terrified of water since her family drowned in a storm that nearly took her life as well, works to overcome her phobia when her adoptive parents, Irish immigrants with a mysterious past, rent a cabin on Lake Champlain for the summer.

In New York City in 1914, eleven-year-old Susan encounters a mystery through an independent-minded female boarder and becomes involved in the growing suffrage movement.

In 1902 fifteen-year-old Rose travels from Ireland to join family members in Chicago, where she must use all her resources to deal with her father's drinking and her brothers' dangerous involvement in politics.

Eighteen-year-old Conn leaves Ireland and sails to America, where he helps build the first Ferris wheel for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.

Finn Reardon, a thirteen-year-old Irish-American newspaper carrier who hopes to be a journalist someday, keeps a journal of his experiences living in New York City in 1899. Includes historical notes.

In 1903, Maureen, originally from Ireland, comes to Bostom to live with her old friend Sofia and her Italian American family, where the two girls share fifth grade class and various adventures.

Newly arrived in Victorian San Francisco from Ireland, Shannon plans the daring rescue of a young Chinese slave.

In 1881 in New York City, teenaged Kevin O'Donnell, ever conscious of the prejudice against the Irish poor, struggles to support his sick father and young sister by working as a messenger for a prominent newspaper but finds his job threatened when he is falsely accused of stealing from his employer.