It's 1967, the world is changing - and so is a quiet misfit named Sally Fiore.
After the sudden death of her father, Sally turns to comfort in the small things - her beloved books, her new interest in sewing, and her slight infatuation with the handsome, young custodian at school who always has a novel in his back pocket.
But her sheltered life is turned upside down in January of '68 when she makes an unlikely friend in the new girl at school - a feisty civil rights activist named Sam, who dresses like a boy, prefers to date girls, and is defiantly unapologetic about her differences.
As Sally grieves and tries to heal from her loss, she copes with her stoic mother who's struggling to keep their house, a tenacious would-be boyfriend, mean girls at school, and an older brother dead set on enlisting in the army after graduation. With Sam's rebellious influence, Sally blooms against the tumultuous backdrop of a small town trying to cling to its idyllic ways in the face of violence, war, and social unrest, and ends up discovering that tragedy can sometimes knit the spirit's fabric together even stronger than it was before.