Arthur makes a bull-roarer in Aunt Goldie's crafts class and accidentally breaks a lightbulb during his demonstration.

Dan and Arthur leave Mormon Island beach as storm clouds rapidly build and a strong wind picks up.

Dan's dad scolds Dan for complaining about doing dishes while Arthur visits, then leaves to help fix the farm tractor.

Dan's mom leaves to check on Mrs. Smiley after a severe weather alert, leaving Dan in charge of baby Ryan.

Tornado sirens go off and Dan grabs Ryan from his crib to take shelter in the basement bathroom with Arthur.

A tornado passes directly over Dan's house and destroys it completely while Dan, Arthur, and Ryan survive in the shower stall.

Stacey appears at the basement window and helps pull Dan, Arthur, and Ryan out of the wreckage.

Dan finds his mom's abandoned car near Aunt Goldie's destroyed house, and then his mom comes running toward him.

Dan, Arthur, and Stacey volunteer to rescue Mrs. Smiley while Dan's mom boards a bus to the Kmart shelter with Ryan.

The group rescues Mrs. Smiley from her basement and puts her safely onto a bus headed to the emergency shelter.

A second tornado strikes Officer Kelly's police car, shattering the windshield and sending broken glass into Kelly's face.

Dan drives Officer Kelly's police car to headquarters after Kelly loses his vision from the glass wounds.

The next morning, Arthur and Stacey are reunited with their father at the armory while Dan's family is still missing.

Dan runs desperately toward his ruined home after learning the Kmart shelter has been converted into a Command Post.

Dan's dad's truck pulls up behind Dan and the whole family is reunited with emotional hugs and tears.

The story begins with Dan and Arthur spending an ordinary summer day together, with small tensions at home and no sign of serious danger approaching. When a severe weather alert interrupts the evening, Dan's mom leaves to check on their neighbor Mrs. Smiley, placing Dan in charge of baby Ryan as the sirens begin to wail. A tornado passes directly over the house and destroys it completely, but Dan, Arthur, and Ryan survive by sheltering in the basement shower. After the storm, Dan's sole mission becomes finding his parents, leading him and his friends through a devastated neighborhood and into the chaos of a second tornado while being transported by Officer Kelly. The following morning, Dan is driven toward the Kmart shelter and then runs desperately on foot toward his ruined home, where his father's truck finally pulls up and the family is reunited.

The core story of survival and family reunion.

Dan and Arthur sunbathe at Mormon Island after swimming and Arthur quietly studies the darkening, cloudy sky.

Dan and Arthur stop at Belle Smiley's house to admire her brand-new aluminum storm door before heading home.

Dan and Arthur visit the chaotic Darlington household, where Mrs. Darlington complains that nothing has happened yet in her romance novel.

As Dan and Arthur bike through the neighborhood, televisions visible through windows begin announcing tornado sightings.

Dan's mom instructs Dan to take a flashlight and blanket down to the basement bathroom in case the sirens start.

Dan and Arthur huddle with Ryan under a blanket in the shower stall as the tornado roars directly over them.

After the tornado passes, Arthur smells gas in the ruins and Dan notices Ryan is turning blue from the cold.

Dan finds a dry towel in the wrecked basement cabinet and wraps Ryan in it to stop him from shivering.

Dan, Arthur, and Stacey search Mrs. Smiley's dark basement with a flashlight and find her sleeping soundly under a blanket.

Firemen spray an "X" on the ruins of the Darlington house and reveal to the group that the Phillips farming area was also hit.

A young boy on the bus gives up his seat for Mrs. Smiley, who boards for the Kmart shelter while there is no room left for the kids.

Dan, Arthur, and Stacey are taken upstairs by a staff member to sleep in the empty women's section of the police station.

Mrs. Minetti brings Dan, Arthur, and Stacey graham crackers and soda before announcing she is turning the lights off.

Dan arrives at the Kmart shelter and finds civilians have been relocated and the building has become a Command Post.

Aunt Goldie is found days after the storm disoriented and staying in a hotel 150 miles from Grand Island.

This pool captures the texture of the day and night through secondary but significant events, from the warning signs at the beach to the small acts of kindness and discovery that shape the story. Dan and Arthur's visits to neighbors, the domestic details at home, and the preparations before the storm all establish the world that is about to be upended. In the immediate aftermath, the struggle inside the ruined basement and the practical challenges of rescuing Mrs. Smiley reveal the resourcefulness of the young survivors. The night at the police station and the difficult morning search for family fill in the gaps between the main dramatic beats. The pool closes with the scattered aftermath, including the fate of Aunt Goldie, showing the wider ripple of destruction across the community.

The supporting moments and details that fill out the night.

Aunt Goldie stops by Dan's house before bowling night and tells Dan she understands how hard it can be to have a new baby around.

Dan notices the kitchen curtains blowing violently inside as a severe weather alert cuts into the television broadcast.

Dan hesitates at Ryan's crib as sirens wail, then yanks the entire mobile from the ceiling and rushes Ryan to the basement as the lights go out.

Dan and Arthur crawl out from under the blanket and discover that the entire house above the foundation has been completely wiped away.

Surveying the yard, Dan sees his dad's beloved Corvette flipped upside down and his mom's unfinished dress hanging from a tree branch.

Dan's mom tells the group that Mrs. Smiley is trapped in her basement and did not respond when called down to her.

Dan and Arthur lower a kitchen table legs-first into Mrs. Smiley's collapsed stairwell to use as a makeshift ladder into her basement.

Dan and Arthur boost Mrs. Smiley onto a couch and bedsprings and push her up through the basement window while Stacey pulls from outside.

Arthur confesses at the police station that he believes his bull-roarer caused the tornadoes because of a Hopi warning he had ignored.

Dan privately wonders whether the tornadoes are punishment for his resentment toward Ryan, then tells Arthur that no one is to blame.

Stacey holds Dan's hand tightly as the two recite Scripture together in the frightening darkness of the police station.

National Guard helicopters survey the devastated city at dawn, with officials on board stunned to silence by the scale of destruction below.

Dan refuses Mrs. Minetti's insistence that he come home with her and jumps out of the car to search for his family on foot.

Mrs. Smiley sets out 80 jars of canned goods in her yard for the entire neighborhood to take and share during the waterless aftermath.

A year after the twisters, the neighborhood gathers for an anniversary potluck and Dan and Arthur cheerfully help set the table together.

This pool traces the internal and dramatic turning points that transform Dan from a resentful older brother into a courageous and grateful young man. Beginning with a small moment of unexpected kindness from Aunt Goldie and ending with the neighborhood's anniversary gathering, it captures the emotional arc beneath the survival story. The physical discoveries — the destroyed house, the overturned Corvette, the trapped Mrs. Smiley — force Dan to confront what truly matters, while revelations at the police station expose the guilt and fear weighing on both Dan and Arthur. Stacey's prayer and the dawn arrival of the National Guard mark the emotional turning point from crisis to tentative hope. The final events show a changed community and a changed Dan, now capable of helping set the table without being asked.