Eleven-year-old Perry T. Cook shouldn’t be living in a prison; he has committed no crime.

Perry was born and raised at the Blue River Coed Correctional Facility in tiny Surprise, Nebraska. His mom is a resident on Cell Block C. So far, the warden, Daugherty, has made it possible for them to be together. Anyone who knows about the arrangement is quietly okay with it.

But when Perry is discovered by the new, ambitious district attorney and brought to live on the outside for the first time, everything changes.

Desperate to be reunited with his mom, Perry goes on a quest to learn the whole truth behind their Blue River story and to find a way to tell everyone what home means before he loses it forever.