Dan, the main character in the story, experiences personal growth as a result of dealing with a series of tornadoes that hit his small town in Nebraska. As the story opens, he is a twelve-year-old who is dealing with changes in his family. These center around the birth of his half-brother Ryan, who is now two. Ryan is the son of Dan's mother, Laura, and step-father, Jack. Dan experiences sibling rivalry and feels displaced by the new son who commands so much of his parent's attention. This puts a strain on his relationship with his mother. He already has a strained relationship with his stepfather. Dan's stepfather wants him to be more athletic and less of an artist. Dan feels unloved, angry, and marginalized in this newly configured family.

As the story opens, we see that Dan is not always responsible. He gets scolded by his stepfather because he forgot to walk his grandmother Belle's dog. However, after the tornadoes leave destruction and chaos everywhere, Dan rises to the occasion. He daringly drives a truck, even though he is only 12, and even drives it through a police barricade in his determination to find and save his family members. He and his friend Arthur are able to rescue his grandmother from a basement using their ingenuity. Dan also helps firefighters save Dan and steers a police cruiser.

In the course of these adventures, Dan does soul searching, wondering if he is to blame for the tornadoes because he played with a Hopi bull roarer, which is said to bring on whirlwinds. At the end, he realizes he is not to blame, grows in confidence and a sense of self worth, and grows closer to his family, winning their respect for his bravery during the tornado.