The story of a group of kids growing up in a depressed rural town in North Carolina, as seen through the eyes of 12-year-old Nasia. After breaking up with her show-off boyfriend Buddy, she withdraws from her delinquent friends and becomes romantically obsessed with a strange, introverted boy named George who is burdened by the fact that his skull never hardened after birth. Tragedy strikes when one of George's friends is accidentally killed and the group, fearing punishment, decides to hide the body. In its aftermath, George is put in the unlikely role as town hero.