Thanks to a new treatment, 12-year-old Charley Stanton's terminal illness is in remission and it's time for her to start living a normal pre-teen life. Unfortunately, leaving her overly protective parents and stifling family farm for public school turns out to be an even greater struggle as she is excluded, tormented, and victimized. Between the loneliness of school and the isolation of the farm, Charley has had enough and leaves home for good.

Like Alice down the rabbit hole, Charley takes on more than she bargained for thanks to a colorful bird and a daring leap of faith that takes her through a magical hedge and into a dry riverbed. Though this riverbed and this world appear to be just like her old one, it proves to be something very, very different.

There, Charley must learn its secrets, its magic...

And its dangers.