Dawn tries to give herself a new image by changing her hair, makeup, clothes, and personality, but then she worries about whether her friends and her penpal Lewis will like the new Dawn.

In 1977 in Princeton, Dana's daughter seven-year-old Francie is struggling to keep her dyslexia a secret from her teachers and family, and even the thought of high school and college is part of the remote and unattainable future.

Since her parents' divorce, Dawn lives in Connecticut with her mother while her brother and father are in California, but after a week's vacation in sunny, healthy southern California, Dawn isn't sure she wants to return to the East Coast.

Abby is prepared for the worst but Lou is a perfect angel when she takes care of her.

"Karen has to get glasses--two pairs! One pair for reading and one for all the time. Karen does not want glasses. Her school pictures are going to be taken soon! But Karen has to...so she picks out some pretty pink and blue ones. Karen thinks she looks very grown-up. Then Yicky Ricky calls her Four-eyes. If Karen wears her glasses for the school picture, Ricky will make fun of her. But Karen is not a wimp! Glasses or no glasses--that Ricky is going...

Sunny continues to grapple with the fact that her mother is dying of cancer.