When retired schoolteacher and widow Betty Hanson learns that the 51st State of Superior is about to close Mossy Point State Park, she expresses her concern to Ray Engstrom, the head of the General Land Office. But Mr. Engstrom reveals a discouraging fact: Mossy Point State Park has never paid its own way since it opened back in 1959. And according to him, it "has the same chance of running in the black as a turtle has of flying." Determined to prove Mr. Engstrom wrong, Betty gathers help from friends and neighbors. A plan emerges to open a folk school, a place where students of all ages can come to learn a craft, and work begins to put Mossy Point State Park on solid fiscal ground. But not everyone is on board with the plan. At times, Betty almost finds herself side-tracked by dealing with her estranged daughter and grandson, who suddenly appear back in her life, and then there is her close friend Lee, who seems to want more than friendship. The State itself seems to have alternative plans for the park, and when an accident threatens to destroy both Betty and the park's finances, all of her plans could fall apart. What can possibly turn their fortunes around and make a turtle fly?