Blue Sky can climb like an ibex. She was raised in the highest peaks of the Alps by the herd and named for the color of her eyes. They say her father was a fallen alpinist and her mother his beautiful dying dream… and so, as you may guess, she’s somewhat magical – strong and sure-footed on the peaks, and natural as an ibex in this harsh environment of wind, rock, and ice. Until one day when she rescues a young alpinist from a stormy peak. The boy looks like her, and he tells her of the world of mysteries beyond the crags. Sky longs to follow him. Can a girl raised by ibex in the mountains ever join the world of humans? Blue Sky must first fulfill her promise to the ibex and find the courage to leave everything she’s ever known.

It's 1972 and fourteen-year-old New Yorker Lizbeth Landers is sent to the sleepy town of Ahoskie, North Carolina to spend the summer with relatives. Her expectation of boredom is quickly dispelled when police sirens and flashing lights draw her to a horrible scene at the Danbury Bridge. Mr. Samuel, owner of Samuel's Lumber Yard, has driven his car off the bridge and into the river, drowning himself and his daughter. Curiously, Mr. Samuel died clutching a unique 1909 wheat penny - a penny that is then stolen from the Sheriff's office. Lizbeth witnesses Miss Violet's grief upon learning that her husband and child are dead, and decides she will help by finding the penny. Her search involves Lizbeth in the lives of many Ahoskie residents, including mean old Mr. Jake, Ms. Melanie Neely, otherwise known as "Ms. McMeanie," and Mr. Samuel's handsome brother Ben, who struggles to keep the business afloat after his brother's death. Lizbeth searches through the collection plates at church and in the coin jars of crazy Aunt Ode, a strange old woman missing one eye and most of her teeth, who keeps a flask in her apron pocket and a secret in her soul.