Ten-year-old Alice's father is the only doctor for miles around in rural Alabama of the mid-1950s where she, her parents, and her older brother Ben live. Alice is enrolled in a home-schooling program. There is no one for her to play with and she is lonely. She consoles herself with her books.
The distant high school Ben goes to is not very good. At last the decision is made to move to a town in Tennessee where both Alice and Ben can attend good public schools. Alice is joyful, but fitting in and making friends is not what she expected. She is taller than anyone in her class, she doesn't have the right shoes, and worst of all, Alice and her parents believe in racial equality, blacks and whites, so she is shunned by all her classmates and neighbors. How Alice, whose only refuge is in books, finally comes to terms with her new life is the heart of this moving story.
