A few days after his father died at an early age, sixteen-year-old Andrew meets his mother for the first time. While wallowing in a self-pity in the comforts of his bedroom, Andrew accidentally finds a brass key with the same initials he had seen engraved to a hidden door in their old house. Andrew finds himself in an old study where lies a mysterious book with indecipherable phrases and some pieces of antique furniture. After reciting the Latin phrases, Andrew finds himself transported to a familiar place at a different time, where he finds his parents--young, carefree, and totally in love with each other. Andrew also discovers that someone from the present world was there to serve as a guide to his time-traveling adventure in Santa Cruz, California, where the monarch butterflies take refuge from the cold..