When Aref, a third-grader who lives in Muscat, Oman, refuses to pack his suitcase and prepare to move to Michigan, his mother asks for help from his grandfather, his Siddi, who takes Aref around the country, storing up memories he can carry with him to a new home.
Graham Fox is reeling after breakings up with his girlfriend and moving to a new city, and school, in his senior year, but he soon finds himself playing wingman to Ethan Frost, who seems to have the art of meeting girls down to a science.
Unhappy about his baby sister's illness and the chaos of moving into a dilapidated old house, Michael retreats to the garage and finds a mysterious stranger who is something like a bird and something like an angel.