€œHenry Smith€s father told him that if you build your house far enough away from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you.€

But Trouble comes careening down the road one night in the form of a pickup truck that strikes Henry€s older brother, Franklin. In the truck is Chay Chouan, a young Cambodian from Franklin€s preparatory school, and the accident sparks racial tensions in the school€"and in the well-established town where Henry€s family has lived for generations. Caught between anger and grief, Henry sets out to do the only thing he can think of: climb Mt. Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine, which he and Franklin were going to climb together. Along with Black Dog, whom Henry has rescued from drowning, and a friend, Henry leaves without his parents€ knowledge. The journey, both exhilarating and dangerous, turns into an odyssey of discovery about himself, his older sister, Louisa, his ancestry, and why one can never escape from Trouble.