Lyddie faces a daunting task: She's struggling to reunite her family and save their farm. To do that, she takes a job at a cotton mill and, with the help of Diana (who's toiled in the mills since age 10), learns that there are risks involved with being a factory girl -- namely, dangerous working conditions and low wages. Soon, Lyddie finds herself in the forefront of a suffrage movement to better those appalling conditions.

One summer, Jay finds four chimps on the prairie who have fallen off a circus cart.