robin brecker is a 15-year old high school student. at the beginning of tenth grade, she is assigned a group project in her history class; her randomly selected partner is benny hart, fellow sophomore. the two choose to write their project about the history of their town, grand valley. benny has a personal stake in this project: ten years before, thirteen citizens of grand valley went missing on the same day, one of whom was benny's mother.

when they begin research at the grand valley library, benny & robin find recordings of a radio show from 1930, as hosted by a woman named eva rose. these recordings refer to "gaps" in grand valley, which are large black holes in space that appear & disappear randomly. benny, after some progress through the radio show, reveals that they have a hazy memory of their mother disappearing through one of these gaps ten years ago.

when they reach the last recorded segment of the show, eva rose reveals to her audience that she is planning to try to find one of the gaps. she says that she will set out for it the following day, & then the show ends abruptly. using newspaper records & obituary information, benny & robin find that eva rose vanished on the night of december 31, 1930, & was not seen again for four years. in 1935, her body was found on the outskirts of grand valley.

robin & benny set out for the location that eva rose named in her last segment on the night of december 31, 1995. when they arrive, they find not only a gap exactly where eva rose predicted it to be, but something else: eva rose herself. she has been transported from 1930 to 1990 by her passage through the gap. benny & robin try to hide her as they argue about what to do.

eva rose is totally enamoured with all modern innovation, but her curious nature leads her to discover the records of her death. she becomes determined to find another gap, & although benny & robin try to stop her, eva rose finds another one at the edge of the town & enters it. in a moment of abject terror, she realizes her mistake. it's too late to escape, though, & she is torn apart by the travel through time. the gap deposits her body in 1935, early on in the year. benny & robin finally understand how the gaps work, & decide to move away, far from grand valley.