In September of 1952, in small-town McFarland, North Dakota, Annie Clausen (the twelve-year-old daughter of the Farmers' Union store manager) doesn't know how good she has it. Annie is pretty sure her loving and hardworking parents expect way too much of her. Her mother's lists of chores take precedence over fun, and the math teacher seems to relish picking on her and her best friend, next-door neighbor, Bobby Merritt. A couple of bullies add to her list of problems. Meanwhile, Rosie Stample takes care of her little brother, Edgar, and doesn't realize how bad their life is going to get. Rosie's mother, who has suffered a horrific shock, has been hospitalized in Minnesota's state mental institution for the last two years. Her father brought his children to McFarland to live because he has found work nearby with a prosperous farmer, Herbert Sloven. Besides caring for Edgar, Rosie tries to do the laundry, cooking, cleaning, and still get to school, while her older brothers manage to bully and alienate everyone. Her father has started drinking again, and the news about her mother's progress gets worse. When Rosie's father commits suicide after losing his job and learning nothing more can be done for his wife, the townspeople rally around the Stample children. But "relatives" from Minnesota show up and make matters much worse. The woman terrifies Rosie and her little brother by threatening to split them up. The older brothers also hatch up a scheme for keeping everyone together but end up making matters worse. Fearful of "Old Ilse," as six-year-old Edgar calls the woman, he runs away. As the town turns out to search for Edgar, Annie Clausen searches her heart and willingly accepts her parents' decisiopn to take in Rosie and Edgar Stample after Edgar is found, while the two older brothers find a home with the Slovens.