Since her father's death, Cat has taken care of her brother, Chicken, for their hardworking mother but while spending time with grandparents they never knew, Cat has the chance to be a child again.

In small-town Wicapi, Minnesota, in 1991, twelve-year-old Justin struggles to pick up the pieces of his life after the unexpected death of his father.

A child, her waitress mother, and her grandmother save dimes to buy a comfortable armchair after all their furniture is lost in a fire.