A rainbow appears over Hillside out of nowhere, reaching over the land for three days and three nights. Why it is there, nobody knows. Running away from home is easier for Ben than he imagines, but where he is running to remains a mystery. With his father and the police in hot pursuit, there is no escape until he meets Joel, a teenage boy from the ghetto at Alligator Creek. Joel must get to Death Canyon at all cost even if it means ditching Ben along the way. The police are closing in, Rocky River has broken its banks and Fir Tree Dam is at breaking point. With so much at stake, the boys have no other choice than to keep on running.