All Julia Scheeres ever wanted was to have a normal, happy family. But when her fanatical mother decides they should all move to rural Indiana, Julia's life begins to unravel.

In the blistering heat of the isolating community, Julia and her adopted brother David struggle together through adolescence. But with a mother who whose first concern is her church missionaries, and a distant father whose rare presence is resented by all and feared by others, home for Julia becomes a place of unspeakable secrets...