As her family's Model T truck rattles along toward Waheegan, Sarah Ann Puckett wonders about her new home. What will life be like in a real town? Will her house be bigger than the one on the farm? She can't wait to see her first movie at the Aladdin Theater and to make friends at her new school.
But the year is 1932, and life in the midst of the Great Depression is far from easy. Sarah's parents have been forced to sell the farm, and Sarah is shocked to see that her new house is nothing more than a shack in the poorest part of town. Jobs are scarce, and soon Sarah's father is forced to leave home to look for work. It seems that Sarah has lost everything . . . except her prizewinning bread recipe.