Joes is used to living on shaky gorund. His mom leaves whenever she ges "the itch," and now he and his grandmum have had to downsize and still can't keep up with the bills. But Joe takes comfort form comic book superheroes because they face a lot of "and then, BOOM!" moments where the odds are stacked against them and they somehow survive. Then an unimaginable BOOm strikes, leaving Jow to find for himself. The electricity gets shut off, ad with the arrival of summer vacation, school meals end. Lots of people care for Joe, but he's afraid of what might happen if he tells them what's going on, so he hides the truht -- even from his best friends. Joe's never felt so alone -- until he encounters a stray dog and her pups. Joe knows what it's liek to be abandone, so he takes them in. But how long can four hungry creatures survive on their own with a dwindling supply of food? Expecially when the next big BOOM is about to storm in.