After her brother dies and her parents are divorced, twelve-year-old Katahdin is angry and determined hike the whole Appalachian Trail (over 2,000 miles) on her own. She plans her trip carefully (she thinks!) and then encounters unexpected hardship and many frustrations right at the start of her journey. When her mother finds her she surprisingly allows Dani to continue the trip only now they will travel together. In the process they begin to heal from Springer’s death from muscular dystrophy and the parent’s divorce.