On May 18, 1980, eleven-year-old Jessie Marlowe and her best friends, Eddie and Sam, are in a forest near Mount St. Helens when the months of wondering whether the volcano will erupt are finally answered, all three are badly burned, but it is up to Jessie to protect the boys as best she can and hope that somebody comes to rescue them.

After a local mountain becomes a deadly and imminent threat, three strikingly different women become linked in a desperate mission. Children's author Katheryn Sommers is searching for her depressed husband, David, and their son Brian, camping together on Mount St. Helen's tumultuous north slope. Mellie Sedor seeks her husband, Daniel, who has taken a logging job to pay for their daughter's chemotherapy. Fashion photographer Jenn Stockton comes to...

Twelve-year-old Maribel daydreams at school, but when she defies evacuation orders to return home just as Mount St. Helens erupts in 1980, she must focus in order to survive. Includes historical note, glossary, and discussion questions.