Life is not easy for 6 year old Rebecca. Rebecca's parents are at each others throats; her big sister is totally absorbed with her own problems, and her uncle is intent on Rebecca taking her medicine. It is a hard luck life. Complicating things further, her health is not so good and her parents keep her home all the time. Ernest, the bacterium who has become her best friend, hopes to reconcile her parents. But things get complicated when a new virus...

"Rebecca is spending time in the country with her father, and Ernest of course, when things begin to change. Rebecca befriends a boy who is her age, and she sees her sister leave to return to the city on her own. Will Ernest & Rebecca's friendship survive?" -- from publisher's web site.