When his mother leaves, sixteen-year-old Bobby, a Choctaw, begins living in a hole in his backyard to avoid his abusive father, and is surprised to find friends and neighbors willing to help him. Inspired by the traditional Choctaw story.

Picked on at home, criticized for talking trash while beating boys at basketball, and always seen as less than her best friend, a girl struggles to like and accept herself.

Fourteen-year-old Bobby, living in a small Massachusetts town just after World War II, finds himself facing many new challenges as he tries to pull together his coachless basketball team, cope with new feelings for his old friend Joanie, and discover the identity of the mysterious stranger who seems to be threatening his teacher.