It's the last day of school and Vicki drops a bombshell: she won't be coming back to Angelus High next year. In fact, she's leaving Angelus altogether to go to boarding school.
Lockie and the family become the focus of small-town charity, much to Lockie's chagrin. Lockie enters the cross-country and places a disappointing first. Cyril goes missing.
Nan and Pop arrive to help out the Leonards but with Nan's cooking filling the family's stomach with stinky hot gas and Pop's dangerous driving, the grandparents are more of a hindrance.
Lockie ponders the notion of the domino effect: how one small event can trigger a series of other smaller events, leading to big, potentially life-changing results.