After he nearly drowns in a parking-lot puddle, Dinnn Needles is fearful of many things, including flying. When his 400 siblings swarm off without him, he finds time to dream - about family stories, a lost brother, adventures in The Wild, and, above all, how to be cool. At school in an abandoned air-conditioner, Dinnn learns about the deadly Pondhawk dragonfly and other dangers that lie beyond his home under a drive-in theater screen. But Dinnn never really takes to city life. Lonely and left out, he is filled with an unexplained longing. He hears about the red mini-van that brought his parents together and wonders about his extended family in the country. And then one day, as fate would have it, the red mini-van reappears, giving Dinnn a chance to visit to his relatives in The Wild.
