Thirteen-year-old Glory Mason has always prided herself on being a free thinker. But in Dogwood, the tiny Appalachian town where she's lived her entire life, she's often seen as a troublemaker. Glory is frustrated with Dogwood's isolation from the world "outside," and this leads her to test her limits. But when a thoughtless prank leads to a tragic accident, her father-and the townspeople-can no longer look the other way. Glory is cast out of the town-left alone to fend for herself in a world she has never known.