Mick Conway is tired of mourning his mom and wondering when his dad will finally come home. He's tired of moving to live with yet another aunt or uncle and having to change schools and friends each time he moves. And, as much as he loves his baby sister Emilia, he might be a little less tired if somebody else would take a turn getting her back to sleep at night.

He isn't tired of electricity, functional sewer systems, or a world with some respect for the laws of physics. But he doesn't realize how much he cherishes those things until he's mysteriously dropped somewhere that doesn't have any of them—though it does have time travel, faceless interlopers skulking in the shadows, and somebody with a sinister plan that could prove deadly. Can Mick help thwart that plan? And can he do so without giving up on getting back home?