The story takes place primarily in two mythical counties, McBee and Wofford, ostensibly in the upstate South Carolina.
Jadie, a boy of thirteen or fourteen, his mother having died when he was very young and his father in and out of jail, is virtually alone in the world.
Having spent most of his young life being shuttled from one foster home to another, he finds himself in the custody of an ill-tempered aunt, an obese and miserable woman who seems to value the monthly check she receives from the .
