In Chap­ter I of the sto­ry, we encounter the pro­tag­o­nist, who reflects on their fam­i­ly’s recent move to a remote area due to a hur­ri­cane trig­gered by their broth­er, Fish. The fam­i­ly had lived by the coast, where the pro­tag­o­nist felt a strong affin­i­ty for the waves; how­ev­er, Fish’s con­nec­tion to water was trou­ble, lead­ing them to relo­cate deep inland. The hur­ri­cane coin­cid­ed with Fish’s thir­teenth birth­day, abrupt­ly trans­form­ing the fes­tive atmos­phere into chaos as the storm wreaked hav­oc around them. Trees fell, win­dows shat­tered, and the fam­i­ly fought to keep Fish calm amidst the stor­m’s fury.

Post-hur­ri­cane, the fam­i­ly set­tles in the iso­lat­ed stretch of land between Nebras­ka and Kansas, affec­tion­ate­ly dubbed Kansas­ka-Nebransas, where the absence of major water bod­ies could pre­vent big storms. Their home is away from neigh­bors, with the near­est town fail­ing to boast even the most basic ameni­ties. This iso­la­tion allows them a sense of peace, albeit mixed with nos­tal­gia for their pre­vi­ous life.

The chap­ter also intro­duces Grand­pa Bom­ba, who play­ful­ly recounts a whim­si­cal sto­ry of how Ida­ho came into being on his thir­teenth birth­day. His tall tales are a source of amuse­ment for his fam­i­ly, con­trast­ing with the pro­tag­o­nist’s antic­i­pa­tion of their own thir­teenth birth­day, which is expect­ed to bring a per­son­al, unique “savvy” or spe­cial abil­i­ty. The fam­i­ly dynam­ic is fur­ther fleshed out with sib­lings Rock­et, Fish, and the nar­ra­tor. Rock­et, at sev­en­teen, claims that girls pos­sess unre­mark­able savvies, while he has elec­tric pow­ers, demon­strat­ing sib­ling rival­ry and teas­ing.

As the nar­ra­tor pre­pares for their immi­nent birth­day, which they hope will be spe­cial, ten­sion esca­lates unex­pect­ed­ly dur­ing a fam­i­ly din­ner. A phone call dis­rupts the evening, lead­ing to dev­as­tat­ing news: their father, Pop­pa, has been involved in a severe car acci­dent and is unre­spon­sive in the hos­pi­tal. This rev­e­la­tion casts a shad­ow over the fam­i­ly, par­tic­u­lar­ly on the nar­ra­tor, who grap­ples with feel­ings of anger and dis­ap­point­ment about the poten­tial ruin of their birth­day, their joy over­shad­owed by the grav­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion around them. The chap­ter cap­tures the blend of famil­ial love, the inno­cence of child­hood wish­es, and the life-alter­ing real­i­ties they face togeth­er.