The year is 1927, and the Merrill children are once again in school--but one that's unlike any other. For ten months out of the year their school, set up in a railway car that also serves as their home, is on the move. Thirteen-year-old Jenny Merrill loves life on the tracks, but she has a secret wish. She's fallen in love with a violin on page 244 of the Eaton's catalogue. But how will she get the money to pay for it? As Jenny finds out, she will need more than her own resourcefulness. It will take a new understanding of the ties that bind her not only to the rails, but to the people who live beside them.