Autumn of 1986 in the Ozarks finds eleven-year-old April Grace adjusting to middle school, coping with her mother's difficult pregnancy, helping Isabel with the church play, and trying to figure out why the new boy at school will not leave her alone.
1987 brings more changes for April Grace when Myra Sue starts acting very sneaky, her new baby brother comes home, her neighbor Isabel becomes her gym teacher, and a long-lost relative suddenly appears.