Defiant, mean, tough, troubled-thirteen-year-old Queenie Peavy doesn't care what people call her. Her father is in prison and she will not tolerate the taunts and stares and pity of others because of it. With her mother working long hours at the factory, Queenie bullies her way through the 1930's rural Georgia community that cares more about her than she is able to realize. Relaxed and reliable at home where she tells stories to neighbor children and sings hymns to the chickens, Queenie must reconcile the image of her idolized father with reality in order to integrate her own vulnerability with her powerful imagination and enduring spunk.