Imaginative, emotionally sensitive, and hard working, Sara Louise Bradshaw, a young girl growing up on an isolated fishing island off the coast of Maryland during WWII, is made to feel second-best from the moment of her birth.

Her impoverished family consists of her rough but gentle father, always absent due to his working-class job on his oyster boat; her ladylike and intelligent mother, who had arrived on the island as a school teacher and stayed after falling in love; her grandmother, a bitter and nasty woman with a religious bent; and Caroline, Sara Louise's younger twin sister who is the main impediment of Sara Louise's struggle to distinguish herself and obtain the affection she craves.

Caroline is offered a scholarship to a mainland school for voice lessons, due to her rare singing skills, and the rest of the family, mainly Sara Louise, must sacrifice to make this happen.

To raise money, Sara Louise catches crabs with her only friend, McCall "Call" Purnell, a dumpy, short-sighted boy.

Hiram tells the children how Trudy may have a fortune hidden in the building, which is filthy and overrun by a starving feral cat colony.

Call and Hiram reveal they could not bring themselves to kill the cats after Sara Louise's display, and Caroline steps in to introduce herself.

The hard work leaves no time for thought and, absent Caroline's shadow, Sara Louise enjoys the attention she finally receives from her family, earning her high school diploma with her mother's help.

Denied entry to medical school due to her gender and the influx of GI Bill students, Sara Louise graduates as a nurse.

Sara Louise has a baby boy, Caroline is debuting as an opera singer in New Haven, their father and grandmother die, and their mother leaves the island permanently.

"[2] Patricia Liddie wrote for The ALAN Review, "This novel is indeed a classic, and the beauty of it is that it's so readable for and appropriate to the older junior-high student.

"[3] According to Kirkus Reviews, "Paterson has to get into [Louise's] later years to make the point, and to avoid the instant realizations that substitute in too many juvenile novels.

Louise's earlier, intense feelings evoke recognition and sympathy, but this hasn't the resonant clarity of Bridge to Terabithia or The Great Gilly Hopkins.

[6] The novel was adapted into a 1989 television film starring Bridget Fonda, Jenny Robertson, and John Kellogg broadcast as an episode of the anthology series WonderWorks.