The novel opens one week after Mr. Orange abandons his family in a
pay-by-the-week motel on the outskirts of Portland and takes off for
Mexico. Mrs. Orange is devastated and depressed, possibly still
suffering the side effects of giving birth to Malcolm's newborn brother
Ross in the parking lot of a shopping mall. Malcolm is delighted,
anticipating his first permanent home. He coerces his unresponsive
mother into taking a job at a local retirement village and as part of
her pay the family are allowed to move into Chalet 13, becoming the
youngest residents on a cul-de-sac of elderly individuals and couples,
each with their own story of loss and survival to share. Two weeks after
moving into Chalet 13, Malcolm finds himself covered in tiny, rapidly
enlarging holes; he concludes that he is literally disappearing. As his
mother is so traumatized that she has lost her grip on English and
cannot bring herself to touch her own children. Malcolm is forced to
employ the assistance of his elderly neighbors as he embarks upon a
quest to find an antidote before he disappears completely.