After a busy summer training Sprocket, the service dog she has been raising, Nicki's school year gets off to a rough start as she works on reconciling her two best friends, accepting that Sprocket will soon leave for placement with someone who needs him, and awaiting the birth of the twins her mother is expecting. Includes essay on service dogs.

Thirteen-year-old Kaleb has always looked up to his older stepbrother, Luke, in snowboarding and everything else, so when Luke is wounded in Afghanistan Kaleb is devastated, and to honor his brother he is set on competing on the difficult slopestyle course.