Eleven year old Maria is terrified at the prospect of her upcoming operation to correct a congenital heart defect. Maria's surgery is actually to simply patch a hole in her heart that never properly closed, but her neighborhood friends regale her with horror stories of possibly receiving a criminal's heart or that of a non-Catholic. Her parents assure her that if she is a big girl and trusts in God, all will be fine. Maria isn't convinced.
At the hospital she meets Donald, a boy suffering from third degree burns all over his face and much of his body. Unlike good-natured Maria, Donald is bitter and angry towards everyone he meets. You can hardly blame him. Not only is it extremely hard to go through life looking different (at first Maria thinks he is wearing a monster mask), but we soon find out that the fire was possibly started by his neglectful and abusive parents and that he now resides in foster care. We learn that Donald is a gifted poet, and there are a few other glimpses that show us that deep down, he's just a normal 11 year old boy.
Maria wrestles with the fact that it is difficult to be friends with Donald, especially as she makes other friends in the hospital who are cruel to him. She also questions why God would allow this to happen to a kid, but her awesome big brother Carlo, who bears a resemblance to John Travolta, tells her that maybe it is Maria's friendship and other good things that are proof of God in Donald's life.
Of course, Maria eventually has to leave the hospital (I always thought it was strange that she left before Donald - he was having an operation on his skin), and Donald is pissed. Maria lives in Queens, New York and Donald lives in a small town a couple of hours away, and Donald appears to be convinced they'll never see each other again.
Maria reunites with her neighborhood friends, who give her a hard time about Donald being her boyfriend (he's not) and about his scars. After not hearing from him for a couple of weeks, Maria finally receives a letter from Donald, in which he has enclosed a poem called A Night Without Stars about the night they became friends. The book ends with Carlo taking Maria for a ride in his new car. Where does she want to go? he asked. To see Donald. The last lines of the book are "One journey ended. Another begun." I always hoped that this meant that they got...together when they were older, but who knows.
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