Based on the novel by Truman Capote, the story is set in the 1940s in a small southern town. After his mother dies, Collin Fenwick, comes to live with his father's maiden cousins, Verena and Dolly Talbo. Verena is a rigid and proper businesswoman who owns half the stores in their small town. Collin prefers the company of Verena's sister Dolly, who has a delicate and romantic soul. Catherine, is the Talbos' outspoken housemaid and Dolly's closest friend. Judge Charlie Cool, who discovers, when he meets Dolly Talbo, that his heart, once dry as an empty husk at the the twilight of his life, can again be filled with love. When Dolly, Collin and Catherine leave the Talbo home for a tree house to escape Verena and to dream and talk, they set in motion a chain of comic events that will change their world and the lives of several townspeople.