Jake and his older sister, Shoshona, have been under foster care since their single mother was jailed three years before. Jake has created an alter ego named Jakeman to help him cope, and he has secretly written a series of letters to the Governor, pleading for their mom's release. Along with an assortment of nervous, angry, and damaged kids, Jake and Shoshona regularly take the long bus trip through New York state to visit their mother in jail. But this time, the journey will be like no other. The social workers contract food poisoning on the way back to the city and are taken to a hospital, leaving the exasperated driver and his hidden bottle of booze in charge. In no time the driver is drunk and lost, and he staggers off the bus, leaving the children in the middle of nowhere.
Sick to death of a system that has deserted them at every turn, Shoshana takes the wheel. And Jake and the others hatch a plan to find the Governor and force him to listen to them once and for all.