It is 1935 and Moose Flanagan has recently moved to the island of Alcatraz, where his father works as a prison guard. His older sister, Natalie, is autistic, and their mother is trying desperately to get her accepted into a special school, Ester P. Marinoff. It is unlikely for children to get accepted once they reach a certain age, so her mother refuses to admit Natalie's true age, which is fourteen. Because of this, mother lives in denial and celebrates Natalie's "10th birthday" every year.
After moving to the island, Moose misses playing baseball with his close friends, and he is largely responsible for watching after Natalie when he isn't in school.
Moose takes the ferry to San Francisco every day during the week, where he attends school with the warden's daughter, Piper, who is notorious for plotting and scheming. In fact, it is she who masterminds the plan to collect other children's clothing (for $$$) and have them laundered by famous criminals, such as Al Capone.
Moose, Natalie, and Piper find plenty of mischief and a couple of scary moments involving some of the prisoners on Alcatraz. Finally, when Natalie is rejected from Ester P. Marinoff for the second time and Moose watches his parents fall apart, he decides to write to the infamous gangster (Al Capone) himself, to ask the prisoner for a personal favor.
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