As ten-year-old Gwyn searches for a missing neighbor in her new town in Iowa, she learns much about her mother, who grew up there but has suffered from memory loss since Gwyn was four.

Hoping for a fresh start at Deephaven Academy, Guinevere "Nev" Tallow instead finds something strange stalking its corridors and teams up with another first-year student to unravel the secrets of this exclusive boarding school and its forbidden east wing.

Determined to find the knight responsible for the terrible deaths of her mother and the Jewish peddler who had given them a home, thirteen-year-old Sarah is helped in her quest by a strange old woman, a magical sword, a young faery, and an unkempt knight with little armor and no horse.

Examines the origin, processing, and historical and modern uses of wool.