Daisy is a nine year old girl who grows up in an abusive environment. She lives with her father who drinks, did not want to work, and both physically and mentally abuses her. Daisy's tutor saw the bruises and Daisy is able to confide in her what was happening. She is placed in a foster home.

A girl has two moms. One is her natural mother and the other is a foster mother.

An only child is upset about a foster child temporarily living in her home, but then she grows to love the child as a sister. A bond grows between them through reading, singing, and playing together. The little girl grieves when the foster child is adopted by her aunt and uncle.

Parents tell their children how they became a family. There are birth families, adoption families, single-parent families, two parent families, and different ethnic families.

The town sheriff adopts eight orphans to save them from the mean Ms. Stump, but there are a few problems. Pa is not too good at cooking and his cleaning is quite shabby. The orphans one wish is for him to get married. One of the orphans, Sweetness, believes a letter that arrived in the mail is the answer.

Mai is going along with her mom to Vietnam, where mom hopes to find her mother and father, who were separated during the Vietnam War. There Mia learns about where her mom came from and gains a new sense of identity and feeling of home.