It's the summer before 6th grade, and best friends Alex and Sam have a perfect, epic plan: they're going to build a raft and finally cross the wide, mysterious pond at the edge of their neighborhood, claiming the tiny, unnamed island in the middle as their own. But their plans are derailed when Sam's dad, a truck driver, is laid off, and suddenly Sam's family is talking about moving away. Desperate to stop their world from changing, the two boys decide to take their adventure to the next level.