Joe is used to living on shaky ground. His mom leaves whenever she gets "the itch," and now he and his grandmum have had to downsize and still can't keep up with the bills. But Joe takes comfort from comic book super-heroes because they face a lot of "and then, BOOM!" moments where the odds are stacked against them and they somehow survive. Then an unimaginable BOOM strikes, leaving Joe to fend for himself. The electricity gets shut off, and with the arrival of summer vacation, school meals end. Lots of people care for Joe, but he's afraid of what might happen if he tells them what's going on, so he hides the truth - even from his best friends. Joe's never felt so alone - until he encounters a stray dog and her pups. Joe knows what it's like to be abandoned, so he takes them in. But how long can four hungry creatures survive on their own with a dwindling supply of food? Especially when the next big BOOM is about to storm in.