In 1955, in Arrow-Catcher, Mississippi, fourth-grade teacher Alice Conroy, hoping to teach her children something important, takes her class on field trips to the bedside of a terminally burned classmate, the sewage plant, a funeral parlor, and a murder trial.
At the age of seventeen, Lucille Odom finds herself in the middle of an unexpected domestic crisis. As she helps guide her family through its discontent, Lucille discovers in herself a woman rich in wisdom, rich in humor, and rich in love.