Ten-year-old Winnie Foster feels she's cooped up in a cage. Tired of being constantly watched by her overbearing family, she runs off into the Treegap woods to get away. There, beside a giant ash tree, she finds a Jessie Tuck drinking from a bubbling spring. Jessie doesn't appear to be much older than Winnie, but he's looked that way for 87 years. Winnie just stumbled onto the magical waters that make the Tuck family live forever!

Immortality aside, the Tucks are unlike anyone Winnie has ever met. Their helter-skelter home is jumbled mess, and they do as they please. They seem to be having a wonderful time, but eternal life comes with a hidden cost. The Tucks must stay hidden from other people, never able to settle down, make new friends, or a start family of their own. Now Winnie must make a decision: Does she drink from the spring and join the Tucks? Who wouldn't want to live forever?

This poignant and timeless tale raises profound questions about what gives a life meaning—and what it means to be alive.