Plot

A girl fed up with her quirky, disfunctional family runs away from home, causing all of them to spend time with each other.

Laura's parents divorced when she was eight. Now, at thirteen, she lives with her mother, her stepfather, two stepbrothers, a stepsister, and a half-brother. She used to visit her father, stepmother (third stepmother) and half-sister, but now *another* divorce is in the works, so Laura visits her father and his pregnant girlfriend -- who's only six years older than she is. Who should she feel loyalty to? And is it any wonder she wants to run away from home?—Susan C. Mitchell <susanm@indirect.com>

If you think your family is messed up, then you better take look at Laura Chartoff's life. Her parents divorced when she was 8, following both of them remarrying. Living with her mother, Laura endures her materialistic step-father Keith, her vain step-sister Corrine, her militarily obsessed step-brother Kurt, and her far too serious/far too smart half brother Sam. Laura's father is no help, currently the middle of a divorce with his wife Barbara and barely seeing his little daughter Jessie due to the fact that his mistress Stephanie is about to have twins. The only relative Laura gets along with is Keith's eldest son Josh, so when her relatives becomes too much for the 13 year old to handle, Laura runs away to his cabin. When the entire clan comes to track her down, she runs again, thinking her step-brother betrayed her. While her family finds common ground in their worry over her, Laura experiences life on her own and realizes her family may not be so bad.—Max Vaughn