Set in Asheville, N.C. in the summer of 1953, twelve-year-old Sarah, a slow country girl, is continuously mistreated by her uncle, an auto mechanic named Buzz. After being confronted by a city slicker that attempts to coerce Sarah into his car, she turns the tables on him and lures him into her back-country world, where ultimately he learns a deadly lesson. This event signals her coming of age.