Farewell Summer

The story opens in Green Town, Illinois, on October 1, during an unseasonably warm spell. Almost-fourteen-year-old Douglas “Doug” Spaulding rides with his Grandpa, who points out the “farewell summer” flowers, a sign of autumn's approach. That night, Doug has a terrifying nightmare where the entire town throws him a surprise parade that leads to a nameless white steamboat. His family and friends push him aboard, and as the boat, which he senses is named FAREWELL SUMMER, sails into the fog, he understands it symbolizes death. Waking in a panic, Doug asks his grandfather if death is like being on a ship while everyone else stays behind. His grandfather confirms it. This realization solidifies Doug’s resolve to fight against growing old. He gathers his friends, including his younger brother Tom and pals Charlie Woodman and Will Arno, in the local ravine and declares "WAR" against the town's elderly men, whom he identifies as the enemy forcing them toward adulthood and death.

The boys’ boisterous laughter in the ravine disturbs Mr. Braling, a frail old man who relies on a metronome to regulate his heartbeat. Doug confronts him on his porch, aims a cap-pistol, and shouts, "Bang! You're dead!" The shock causes Braling to clutch his chest and collapse, dead from a heart attack. His friend, Calvin C. Quartermain, the formidable chairman of the school board, witnesses the event from the porch and vows revenge. Doug flees, but after a moment of guilt in the ravine, he retrieves his cap-pistol and bikes back toward the scene. In his haste, he accidentally collides with Quartermain, knocking him down and breaking his leg. Believing he has now killed one man and severely injured another, Doug is horrified.

Charlie Woodman finds Doug and hails him as a hero, mistakenly believing Doug intentionally "shot" Braling and attacked Quartermain with an "infernal machine," his bicycle. Doug embraces this new reputation, accepting the title of "General" and organizing his friends into an army. He calls a meeting in the town cemetery, where he delivers a speech claiming that old people teach children how to die and that old men are shells with young men trapped inside them. To dramatize his point, he chalks his friends' names on the tombstones. As their first act of military discipline, Doug leads his army to the candy store, only to make them pour out their sodas and discard their candy, renouncing the "poisons" he believes cause them to grow up.

Confined to his home, Quartermain plots his counteroffensive. He calls Mr. Bleak, another elderly school board member, to form an alliance against the boys. That night, the boys place three carved pumpkins outside Quartermain’s house. He imagines they are carved in the likenesses of himself, Bleak, and another board member, Mr. Gray. Enraged, Quartermain smashes the pumpkins with his crutches and orders his housekeeper to bake them into pies for a "victory feast." At a subsequent school board meeting, he declares himself "Colonel Quartermain" and vows to escalate the war. Meanwhile, after a brief and failed attempt at fasting, Doug watches the old men playing chess in the courthouse square and has a revelation; they control the town's youth like chess pieces. During a sudden thunderstorm, the boys steal all the chess pieces from the boards. However, Doug's Grandpa discovers their hiding place in a local haunted house and gently instructs Doug that what was "purloined" must be returned. Doug complies, returning the pieces.

One night, looking out his grandparents' tower window, Doug realizes the true enemy is the courthouse clock, a machine that manufactures time and forces everyone to age. Later, when Charlie reports that an old woman, Mrs. Bentley, claims she was never young, Doug develops a new theory: old people are a separate, alien race. During this discussion, Tom gives voice to Doug’s unstated plan, suggesting they stop the clock. Tom suggests a key tactic to infiltrate the courthouse, and the boys sneak into the clock tower. Using firecrackers, they destroy the clock's machinery, bringing its hands to a halt. The victory is short-lived, as the boys are overcome with guilt when they realize stopping the clock has not stopped time. Grandpa again intervenes, deducing their involvement and guiding them to take responsibility. The boys return to the clock tower to clean the debris while the janitor repairs and restarts the clock.

Hearing the clock strike again, Quartermain is surprised and changes his tactics. He organizes a lavish birthday party in the ravine for a girl named Lisabell, inviting all the neighborhood children. At the party, Lisabell gives the first piece of cake to Doug, calls him a "coward," and dares him to meet her at the haunted house that night. In a sudden moment of empathy, Doug takes a piece of cake to Quartermain. The unexpected kindness shatters the old man's resolve. As Mr. Bleak pushes him home, Quartermain realizes that by fighting the boys, he forced them to engage with life and grow. He sees his own youth in Doug's face and understands the war is over. That night, Doug meets Lisabell at the haunted house. After they discover the "ghosts" are just other girls from the neighborhood, Lisabell gives Doug his first kiss, a shocking experience that jolts him toward manhood. For a final lesson, a mystery tent appears at the lakefront, and Quartermain is seen smiling, implying his involvement. Inside, the boys find twelve jars displaying the stages of fetal development, a silent exhibit on the "mystery of life" that reveals the process of their own creation.

Sometime later, Doug finds himself on Quartermain's porch. They sit in rocking chairs that seem to move like a teeter-totter, one rising as the other sinks, symbolizing the transfer of life between generations. Quartermain compares the end of their conflict to the surrender at Appomattox, acknowledging a truce. When Doug asks what life is about, Quartermain begins to share his wisdom, cementing the end of their war. That night, Quartermain experiences a final, fleeting moment of male vitality, which he imagines as an old friend saying goodbye before moving on. At the same moment, Doug awakens to his own burgeoning sexuality, feeling a new presence in his body that he recognizes as the continuation of life. Frightened by the changes he senses, Tom crawls into bed with his brother. As a great wind blows the last leaves from the trees, Doug says, "Summer's over." They look forward to autumn and Halloween.