This is Jack’s seventh summer at camp—he has not left since his mom dropped him off six years ago. When he first arrived, he came armed with a backpack, a suitcase, and a dragon egg—gifted to him by his grandmother (who had found it in a Walmart parking lot). Jack’s parents still write him letters, promising to pick him up, yet every year at summer’s end, they are nowhere to be found.

So Jack stays year-round. In the fall, he attends music camps; in the winter, standardized test preparation camps; in the spring, math and science camps, as well as historical re-enactments, which he hates. Though he remains at camp from year to year, no one ever remembers Jack and people (including his own cousin, who’s a counselor during the summer) frequently call him by the wrong name (Jeremy, Justin). And his dragon egg lies dormant.

The only person who ever remembers Jack is Nancy. When Jack first meets Nancy during his second summer, she doesn’t speak at all—rumors circulate among the camp that she has no tongue, or that she’s a witch. But over the years, Jack and Nancy become close friends.

At the end of one summer, with Nancy’s encouragement, Jack tries to take the bus back into town, where all the parents wait to pick up their kids. When he arrives, Jack can see the top of his house from the pick-up location, but the bus driver doesn’t allow him to leave without a guardian. No one picks him up. The next morning, they drive back to camp.

Jack and Nancy plan to perform a skit, called “I’ve Come to Marry the Princess,” together at the camp talent show. However, Jack’s dragon egg hatches, and he bails at the last minute, leaving Nancy hanging out to dry on stage, where she embarrasses herself by falling flat on her face.

Nancy is furious at Jack. By the time Jack works up the nerve to apologize to her, Nancy is gone. Later, Jack imagines that Nancy forgives him and compliments his dragon.