It's 1926 in Achinson, Missouri and fifteen-year-old Iris feels like a shadow in her own home. Her mother died of tuberculosis when she was five and since then, her father has remained distant from her and has poured himself into his shoe store. Iris doesn't seem to fit anywhere in his life. Her father decides to send her away for the summer to be the companion of Dr. Nesbitt's elderly mother in rural Wellsford while he goes to Kansas City to open up a new shoe store in that booming town with his new fiance, Celeste. Iris and Mrs. Nesbitt soon learn they have much in common; they are both mourning lost loved ones in their lives, Iris her mother and Mrs. Nesbitt her other son Morris. Together they learn to " dust off the memories" and a deep friendship forms between them. Dr. Nesbitt is kind, calm, understanding and teaches Iris to drive his Model-T so that she may take Mr. Nesbitt on errands. Iris feels welcomed in their home but misses the companionship of her best friend from back home, Leroy. Cecil, the Nesbitt's tenant farmer, and his daughter Dot, who does their laundry every week, are disturbing elements in Iris' life. Cecil is menacing and makes Iris feel very uncomfortable when he is around. Dot is prickly and antagonistic to Iris. Dot says her mother, Pansy, has "passed on". Mrs. Nesbitt says Pansy has merely left Cecil and run away unable to stand living with Cecil any longer. When tragedy happens, Iris must look inside herself and find the courage, cunning and will it will take to stop this evil man from destroying his daughter's life. Warm and humorous, this story tells how one girl discovers her inner strength and beauty and ultimately finds new hope, a new home and love.
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