Wren’s gleeful mood at becoming the lead in the summer musical crashes with the news of her mother’s diagnosis of advanced-stage Breast Cancer. While her mother focuses on healing, Wren is sent to spend the summer with her grandparents in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas.

Grandma and Grandpa live on an acreage of rural land. The not-so-typical grandparents are aging hippies with goats, chickens, and alpacas as companions. Wren finds that happiness comes with new friends, increased independence, and acres of woods to explore. She tries to discover what she wants to do when she is grown—an archaeologist, or ranger, perhaps a writer or a singer?

Without cell phone reception and internet access, Wren feels detached from those back home. Chiggers bite. Spiders lurk. An owl calls outside of Wren’s window. Sometimes Wren gets scared. Yet, even bleak sorrow and loss are no match for family, friendship, and laughter.