Dicey Tillerman Summary

One day in late summer, Dicey Tillerman's mother begins a trip with her children in their wrecked station wagon to see their Aunt Cilla in Bridgeport, Connecticut. When they have driven about 2/3 the distance between their home in Provincetown and Bridgeport, Momma stops the car and gets out, telling the three younger children, James, Maybeth, and Sammy to mind Dicey. Their Momma does not return, and the next day the children, under Dicey's determined leadership, set out to walk to Bridgeport, with only a map, a change of underwear, and seven dollars. The children walk for days on end, buying food as cheaply as possible, scrounging for change alongside of the road, and sleeping in or near empty houses.