One morning in 1930, twelve-year-old Ellie Mae Williams wakes to discover that her father has lost his job. Ellie doesn't want her friends to know of her father's unemployment, but it soon becomes common knowledge as her family plunges into financial hardship during the Great Depression. The family must cut the extras out of their life and do odd jobs to make money. Ellie quits her piano lessons, her mother takes in washing, and her father raises chickens.

During the summer, Ellie goes swimming with her friends, helps her parents around the house, and tries to adjust to a lifestyle...