Mary and her family have left England to join the other Pilgrims who have settled in the faraway land of America. They are in the middle of ocean when horrible storms begin to pound their ship. Everyone is getting sick, and wooden planks are being ripped from the ship by the force of the wind. Mary is beginning to believe that she won’t survive her trip across the ocean.

John and Greg have been teammates on the same swim team for fifteen years. They have both dreamed of swimming in the Olympics someday. The Olympic trials are just a few weeks away, and it appears as though John and Greg will be fighting for the last spot on the team. They are no longer friends. In fact, they have been acting more like enemies as they each strive to reach their goal.

Jessica sees her 16-year-old brother drinking a beer with some friends. He spots her watching him, and later begs her not to tell their parents what she witnessed. She is torn as she tries to decide what to do. She doesn’t want to betray her brother, but she also knows that her parents would want to know what happened.

Savanna wants to try out for the dance team, but she is lacking confidence. She has always loved to dance, but all of the other girls trying out have years of dance training and experience. She is afraid she will humiliate herself during tryouts. She is leaning toward giving up her dream of dancing on the school dance team.

Jason and his family are spending the day at the beach. After his brother buries him in the sand, Jason runs out to the water to wash off. Suddenly, he feels himself being sucked away from the shore. He tries to swim back to the shore, but it’s no use. Someone near-by screams “That boy is stuck in a riptide! Help him!” When Jason hears the word “riptide”, he frantically tries to remember how to survive this type of current.

James lives in North Carolina in the 1850s. For as long as he can remember, his parents have hidden runaway slaves inside their house as they try to escape to freedom. One afternoon, James finds a scared boy about his age in the woods behind his house. The boy says that his owner is near, looking for him, so James leads him to his parents’ house.

Miranda just purchased a brand new oven that responds to voice activated commands. She tells her oven to preheat to 450 degrees. The phone rings. Miranda picks up and begins to chat with her sister about her upcoming trip to Florida. She exclaims, "It's going to feel like a million degrees!"

Suddenly her home smells like something is burning. She looks over and sees that her oven overheard her comment and is now preheating to 1,000,000 degrees!

Abby and her mom have always led a rough life. Recently, Abby’s mom was sentenced to a rehabilitation program, and Abby was sent to live in a foster home. She knows that she should be thankful to her foster parents for taking her in, but whenever she starts to feel comfortable, guilt overcomes her. She feels like she is turning her back on her mom.

Having four older brothers, Emma has grown up around football. Therefore, Emma assumes it will come as no surprise to her parents when she decides to join the football team. Unfortunately, though, her dad surprises her and tells her that she won’t be allowed to join the team. “Girls don’t belong on the football field,” he says. Emma does everything in her power to convince her dad to change his mind.