Thirteen-year-old Evan Hanson is always the last in her family to know what's going on; at least, that's how it feels. When her brother gets drafted to Vietnam, her anti-war mother takes him to Canada, leaving Evan and her younger, special needs brother with their army-officer father—who, unwilling to shoulder the burden of caring for his kids, takes them to their grandmother's roadside cafe and home. At Eat and Get Gas, Evan encounters a cast of characters she both likes and fears and eventually learns a big family secret that changes how she feels about everyone and everything.