Dell is seven years old in the summer of sixty-two. She lives in a place where pine trees whisper secrets and imaginary people come to life. Her mother has little love to give, and her mother's live-in lover is a child's worst kind of problem. Dell has someone to cling to when nine-year-old Lucy flutters by. Their bond becomes strong, and as children will do when there is no one to shelter them, they contemplate what life would be like with their worst problem out of the way. As the battle unfolds and there is nowhere to hide, opportunity presents itself in its most wicked form. Will they shed their armor and run? Or will they seize opportunity by the neck?