With a long hot summer ahead, Ellen Fremedon decides that she is going to write a book -- a long one, with chapters. She doesn't need to look far to find characters, for the village of Partridge Cove is full of interesting ones.

An aspiring yet practical author, Ellen Fremedon decides to start a newspaper.

With her best friend going away, thirteen-year-old Ellen Fremedon is not looking forward to summer, but it turns out to be far less boring than she thought.

During the most difficult summer of her life, Ellen finally begins the search for her birth mother. The results are surprising, moving and often very funny, turning life at the Fremedon household upside down.