Seven-year old Billie Cunningham, moves to Baltimore in 1948 with her mother, Lilly Ann, who hopes to find a better life by marrying Herbert Brown, a city slicker, 12 years her senior. Billie's misgivings about the marriage prove to be well founded, and she's forced to keep a terrible secret. She finds solace and safety in an angry Tom McNeal, Jr., who appoints himself her protector. Also, unbeknowst to Billie, her clairvoyant, mysterious grandmother, Gertie, in South Carolina, does things on her behalf. Ultimately, Billie and Tom realize they must reconcile their pasts in order to truly heal and have a future--whether together or apart.