Life in the small town of Millstone is starting to change too rapidly for Judd Pritcher. If his mom was honest with herself she would admit that too. Instead she drinks more to disguise her fears. They are both better suited to gentler times and without so many strangers invading the town—including the carnival hustlers. The strangers coming and going within her boarding house doesn’t help. But with his dad gone and the fancy lake hotel having been built, Deidra is desperate for business to survive.
Judd has difficulty coping with all of the pressures, especially graduating high school within another year. After that he’s not sure what he will do with his life or whether he’ll even remain within town. If anybody that cares ever discovers the worst he’s been doing, he may not even be given the option to leave. The aspect that is working in his favor is the possibility he may live a long, long time.
If it weren’t for the ground tremors it might not be so bad in Millstone and life could get back to normal. Maybe that will happen after the carnival packs up their cheating games and decide to leave town.