Journey is eleven the summer his mother leaves him and his sister, Cat, with their grandparents. He is sad and angry, and spends the summer looking for the clues that will explain why she left. Journey searches photographs for answers. He looks for family resemblances in Grandma's slbums. Looking for happier times, he tries to put together the torn pieces of the pictures his mother shredded before her departure. And he also searches the photographs...

Reminds firstborn children that they will always special--even if another child or children follow--because they have been the first to do many things, including teaching their mother and father to be parents.