Abruptly spending a week in a northern Minnesota forest with the mother he has never met, a boy with a faithful imaginary dog learns to camp, canoe, and endure the elements while wondering if his mother will ever return home.

After the death of Polly Portman, whose award-winning pies put the town of Ipswitch, Pennsylvania, on the map in the 1950s, her devoted niece Alice and Alice's friend Charlie investigate who is going to extremes to find Aunt Polly's secret pie crust recipe. Includes fourteen pie recipes.