Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, she falls in love.

When Ephraim Appledore-Smith moves into Water Castle with his mother and stroke-afflicted father, he makes two new friends whose family history is tied to the castle. The three of them set out to discover the castle's magic in the hopes of helping Ephraim's father recover.

On an island off the coast of Maine, where children ride lobster boats to school, Piper wants a horse but finds, instead, another object hidden in the red maple tree.