In book 1 of the Nightengale Adventures, Gracie Nightengale, a curious, fun-loving, adventurous, ten-year-old girl, is forced to move home to Louisiana with her family after her grandmother, known as "Maw-maw," becomes very ill. She discovers change is not so scary. Gracie meets her new best friend, Sophia, shortly after moving to Louisiana. Sophia is also a very curious, adventurous, inquisitive girl. Sophia and Gracie are inseparable from the very first time they met each other. Both girls are very interested in the world around them. When Gracie's maw-maw dies, she is gifted a wonderful wooden box from her maw-maw. Together, the girls find an amazing treasure hidden in Gracie's maw-maw's box. Among the treasure is a golden locket with mysterious initials and a journal wrapped in a worn pink ribbon. Unknown to the girls, but the locket holds the key to discovery. When Gracie finally gets the locket open, the trio is transported to Dorchester in the Boston area in the year 1879, meeting a mysterious woman, but this was only the beginning. Gracie, along with her best friend, Sophia, and Gracie's dog, Gumption, embark on an epic journey through time after discovering magic in her grandmother's locket.