10 y.o. Harriet's divorced mom owns and runs a motel. Harriet's an outsider and wants to leave. A woman stays there with her adult, disabled son who befriends Harriet.
Two small town boys sharing paper route. "Whitey" Black lives in poverty with his single mother and young middle class Jerry Barlow. When Whitey wants to buy his small sister a doll it all opens their eyes to the vastness life around them.
A dealer in "outsider" art travels from Chicago to North Carolina to meet her new in-laws, challenging the equilibrium of this middle class Southern home.