Black Creek, North Carolina, is the place where the word "grandmother" is considered "ooh la la" and two children named Cat and Patrick play with coffin bugs, no-see-ums, chiggers, and roly-polies in the crawl space under the watchful eye of Mama Sweetie. Then 16-year-old Patrick is found beaten and left for dead outside the local Come 'n' Go. Cat, his former best friend, has withdrawn from him – and most of her town – after learning at the hands of a wealthy boy that, as her Aunt Tildy puts it, the world isn't an easy place "'specially for a pretty girl." But when the rest of the town seems to believe that Patrick got what was coming to him, Cat sets out to uncover the truth, unlocking Twin Peaks-worthy tableaux: girls in pink cowgirl boots spilling secrets about the finer points of meth labs and boys named Beef delivering orders for mysterious peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches. Cat carves out a hard-won space for those like her who "talk funny" on account of reading books, though the truth, when it comes, seems downright small-town Christian – in the very best way – in its emphasis that redemption comes from confession and forgiveness from the community
