When Mallory gets the lead in the school play, she cannot understand why her best friend Mary Ann is not just as excited as she is, but eventually she finds out--and learns who her real friends are.
When a bad stomachache sends Mallory to the hospital during a winter reunion with neighbor Mary Ann and their summer camp bunkmates, she is sad that her friends seem to be having great fun without her.
After moving to a new town, eight-year-old Mallory keeps throwing stones in the "Wishing Pond" but things will not go back to the way they were before, and she remains torn between old and new best friends.