A promise from the past...a hope for today... Fourteen-year-old Allison O'Brian has never known what it's like to have a real family. Her mother, a popular and glamorous movie star, is more interested in her soaring career than in her daughter, hiding Allison away at boarding school much of the year. What's worse, Allison has no memory of her dead father, and her mother absolutely refuses to talk about him. Then in the summer of 1948, Allison is told that she must attend summer camp while her mother is out of the country. Dreading her fate, Allison devises a plan to escape to New York City and wait out the summer in her mother's now-empty penthouse. But while there, Allison uncovers some disturbing information. A letter from a grandfather she didn't know existed inspires her to unlock the mystery of her past. Will she finally find the love of a family she has always dreamed about?

A time to wish…a time to trust... After a desperate search, Allison O’Brian is miraculously reunited with her long-lost father in Oregon. Almost overnight she has a new family and a new future—but her joy is short-lived. Her movie-star mother has finally caught on to the fact that Allison never made it to summer camp, and when her mother’s secretary comes to take Allison away, she has no choice but to leave. Her one consolation is that her new friend Heather has agreed to come to camp with her. Once at Lakeview, Allison desperately tries to keep her biggest secrets from the other campers. But just when she thinks she’s done the perfect job of hiding her complicated past, Allison’s parents go head-to-head in a messy custody suit over her. Torn between her mother’s approval and her father’s love, Allison must make the decision of a lifetime. Can she trust herself to do the right thing?

A secret for today…a prayer for tomorrow…Thrilled to back in Oregon and at long last living with her father, Allison O’Brian is looking forward to the excitement of starting high school. More than anything else, she wants to fit in, and she finds herself fighting a rising tide of jitters. What if the other students don’t accept her? Will she have any friends? Will her good friend Andrew finally notice her now? Just as she begins to adjust to her surroundings, her father reveals the biggest surprise of all. Not only is Allison stunned at the news, but what’s worse, her father has sworn her to secrecy over something she knows could destroy their future! Allison is torn between keeping her promise to her father and letting everyone involved in on his plans: if she keeps everything under wraps, will she wind up hurting the ones she loves?

In 1948, while her mother is off making yet another movie, fourteen-year-old Allison O'Brian has settled in to a new life in Tamaqua Point, Oregon and is eagerly looking forward to her first traditional family-style Christmas until a phone call from her mother threatens to disrupt her plans.