In the summer of 1963, nine-year-old spitfire Starla Claudelle runs away from her strict grandmotherβs Mississippi home. Starla hasnβt seen her momma since she was threeβthatβs when Lulu left for Nashville to become a famous singer. Starlaβs daddy works on an oil rig in the Gulf, so Mamie, with her tsk-tsk sounds and her bitter refrain of βLord, give me strength,β is the nearest thing to family Starla has. After being put on restriction yet again for her sassy mouth, Starla is caught sneaking out for the Fourth of July parade. She fears Mamie will make good on her threat to send Starla to reform school, so Starla walks to the outskirts of town, and just keeps walking. . . . If she can get to Nashville and find her momma, then all that she promised will come true: Lulu will be a star. Daddy will come to live in Nashville, too. And her family will be whole and perfect. Walking a lonely country road, Starla accepts a ride from Eula, a black woman traveling alone with a white baby. The trio embarks on a road trip that will change Starlaβs life forever. She sees for the first time life as it really isβas she reaches for a dream of how it could one day be.
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