Jacob is a fourteen-year-old boy who lives in the small city of Springbrook in North Dakota. When Jacob's mother gave birth to him she immediately gave him away to an orphanage in Springbrook. Jacob has spent his whole life in the horrible conditions of this orphanage. However when Jacob was first brought to the orphanage he met Allison who is his exact same age. Jacob and Allison have been best friends ever since.


When Jacob was around two years old they discovered that he had a serious seizure condition. Anytime that Jacob gets a seizure he must be safe from any objects around him and Alice is the only one who has known how to care for him all of their lives.


The orphanage that they have lived in for all of these years has horrible conditions. Firstly there is a very mean lady that is the owner of the orphanage and her name is Cruela. Cruela does not let the children do anything fun around the orphanage. Also in the orphanage no one cleans anything and the beds and bathrooms are in terrible conditions. Allison and Jacob have been locked in the same room for almost all of their lives. They get three small meals a day and a small school lesson each day. Jacob has always excelled in math and science and Allison is really good in English.

When they finally manage to escape from the orphanage they find a dog that they name Benny. Benny becomes their really good friend and they take them everywhere with them.

Jacob is deathly afraid of snakes. If he ever sees one then he will pass out and not regain consciousness until Allison or someone else has taken him far away from the snake. Allison has always been terrified of Jacob having a serious seizure when she isn't around and then she will lose him and have no one.

Jacob has always had a huge crush on Allison but he will never admit it to anyone but he finally does tell Amy, their new guardian in Chicago, later on. However Allison also is madly in love with Jacob. She has always seen a glow to his face and loves his personality. She really wants to tell him how she feels but is very afraid to because she is afraid it will ruin things between them or that he will think that she is really weird. So they kind of have a secret love for each other.