Mills is a young girl who is severly traumatized after seeing a playmate killed by the shotgun left lying around by Naismith, the dead boy's father. It is now seven years later and Mills is a 17-year-old outcast. Her mother is an alcoholic and ignores her, while Naismith still blames her for his son's death. Nearly everyone in the village ignores her and she finds comfort and happiness only beside her friend's grave. A series of events occur which threatens Mills' already tenuous position in her village and leads her to a new site of refuge--a gypsy caravan, much to the disapproval of her wayward mother.