But as Will revels in his abundant blessings, he starts to notice signs of the crumbling economy: a single mother holding a sign in the street, asking for money; friends losing their home in foreclosure as they frantically grab whatever possessions they can before the doors are padlocked. Will never dreams that his own family will be affected, and his parents shield him and Clay for as long as they can. When their father's computer-components company collapses, the family travels to Moon Mountain for safety. Within months, both parents are dead, a mudslide has destroyed the only road up the mountain, and Will and Clay are left to cope with their shattered lives, trapped in an isolated dream house that has become their prison.

The boys struggle against paralyzing snowstorms, wild animals, and loneliness. They continually grieve the wrenching loss of their parents and former life in this harrowing story of what the country's economic woes mean for one close, loving, Christian family.