The story concerns a group of extremely bright young children, taken away from their families and whisked off to a "think-tank" institute for scientific observations, referred to as the "farm" by its inhabitants. Also in the institute are the "babies", unique infants that have outwardly autistic symptoms but really possess unexplainable phenomenal abilities. .
The book deals with many aspects of change; such as the expression of change in the form of human interference, and the resulting effect of this manipulation of natural events. The consequence is presented as the babies, their uniqueness a direct result of this intervening, and they are subject to an endless stream of tests and analysis's in the period of time spent at the farm.
Although the main setting is at the institute many changes take place within its boundaries. The juvenile geniuses in the think tank are accepted by each other, after living a life of rejection as a consequence of their higher academic abilities, this portrays change in the form of being accepted, a change from just seemingly existing to living and sharing experiences. The children feel they belong at the farm, they get along with each other as much as what would be desired for them. Together, as a group, they solve many problems they encounter, in particular the situation with the babies. This changes their perspective, they discover what they are there for which isn't something very pleasant for them. And then, in their own attempt to change the way things are inevitably going to turn out, they succeed, bringing down the scientist responsible for the hardship they undergo, and also the one to blame for meddling with other people's lives.
Another expression of change is the short story, Sky-high, by Hannah Robert, aged 18. This recount of a young woman's childhood experiences and her adventures with the backyard clothesline demonstrates change effectively by comparing to what was then to what is now, this is an example of change in general, loosely covering all aspects of it.
