It’s the summer of 1930, August Violet Finnegan longs to be like other twelve year old girls, but she is not.

She is the daughter of a moonshine runner, who decides that she is getting in the way of his money-making business.

When August’s father agrees to an unthinkable deal that will affect the rest of her life, she realizes she will need to grow up quickly in order to survive.

A series of events will lead her to a place she hopes to call home. She isn’t there long when she realizes that won’t be the case at all.

She learns the hard way that dark alleys in the city aren’t the only place that bad people are to be avoided.