Arkansas, 1953. Nine-year-old Hazel McKay knows little girls need a mother. So, when her mother decides to leave her and her little sister, Ruthie, without any reason except she wants more, Hazel feels like her life is falling apart. With their father working out of town most days, Hazel and Ruthie are left on their own in the little house in the middle of the woods, where they find more than just animals and birds hiding in the forest.
Meanwhile, not far away, ten-year-old Joel lives with his alcoholic father. Caught in a struggle to survive his father’s volatile nature and the desire to satisfy his curiosity about the little girls that live in the house in the woods, Joel finds a world of friendship and love he never knew existed.
Together, the three encounter school dances, heartbreaks, first loves, and a world turned upside down by the threat of nuclear war. With a new beginning on the horizon, Hazel, Ruthie, and Joel find their happiness is in jeopardy when tragedy strikes, and they are forced to make a choice. Bury a secret so deep no one will ever know the truth or lose everything they hold dear.