When tragedy strikes twelve-year-old Jacky Fraser unexpectedly, it is the final stone that brings his once normal and happy life crashing down around him. Jacky has suffered through the whirlwind of changes brought on by adolescence and graduation to middle school, but when his mother becomes seriously ill he realizes just how little of life he actually understands. Up until now, Jacky's life had been pretty good, but as his new responsibilities pile up, he realizes that the stress of his mother's illness and the increasing pressure of school make it impossible for him to handle everything. In Jacky the Brave, things fall apart quickly. As they adapt to their new roles at home, Jacky and his father seem more like strangers than family, and even his closest friends start to drift away. In order to salvage his relationship with his father, Jacky desperately turns to an old solution, one that he knows nothing about: bagpipes.