In Cuba's "special period in times of peace" of 1991, Liana and Amado find love after their severe hunger gives both courage to risk government retribution by skipping a summer of labor to seek food. Told in their two voices plus that of the stray dog that brought them together.

A group of house mice struggle to survive a long and strange winter. The humans are gone, the sun is rarely seen, and a cold, dark rain befouls everything it touches. The mice, long dependent on humans for food, stubbornly cling to their old ways, looting the nearby abandoned houses for any scraps they can find. Once, there was plenty to eat, but now the scavengers return empty-handed, or not at all. Food is scarce, but danger is everywhere. Poison and traps wait for the unwary in dark cupboards, and a gang of feral cats relentlessly chase the mice whenever the rodents leave the safety of their nest. Now there are even rumors a hawk has come to join the hunt. As supplies run low and many mice fall ill, desperation creeps in. With the colony at a breaking point, rumors of a wrecked truck filled with food give them hope, but it lies far beyond the forest, where even the cats won't go.

When her best friend disappears in the summer of 1942, Liza resolves to rescue her no matter the cost, entangling herself in an increasingly dangerous web with two former classmates, one a member of the militia and other other forced to live in Leningrad's tunnels.

A bullied gay teen boy with an eating disorder believes he's developed super powers via starvation.