Missing May is a touching story about grief, love, and the enduring bond of family. Ever since May, Summer's aunt and good-as-a-mother for the past six years, passed away in the garden among her pole beans and carrots, life for Summer and her Uncle Ob has been as bleak as winter. Ob doesn't want to create his beautiful whirligigs anymore, and both he and Summer have slipped into a sadness they can't shake off.

They need May in whatever form they can have her—a message, a whisper, a sign that will tell them what to do next. When that sign finally comes, Summer discovers that she and Ob can keep missing May but still go on with their lives.