A teenage boy is torn between his love for an injured Canadian goose that he has found and his agreement to fatten and kill it for an approaching Thanksgiving dinner for his neighbors.

After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four Oregon boys decide to go see the body. On the way, Gordie, Vern, Chris and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, as they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.

Chris is an insecure boy who, after an encounter with a 203-year-old bookworm, begins developing his self-confidence; he does things the wrong way: derrierewards, frontwards, upside down, inside out, etc.

Former 1960s flower children Steven and Elyse Keaton raise their conservative son Alex, daughters Mallory and Jennifer, and later, youngest child Andrew.

A wife and mother in 1915 Tennessee copes with the loss of her husband and the necessity of raising their children alone.