Left with Aunt Mattie and Uncle (sheriff) Cade in the North Carolina mountains, nine-year-old June becomes "Mattie's Girl" when Cade is killed at the home of her best friend PeeDee. In stories deeply rooted in 1940s Appalachia, June chronicles the years between meeting the irrepressible PeeDee and losing her. She struggles to understand her mother's indifference, her father's divided love, her grandmother's sudden death, her grandfather's being institutionalized. Three years later, PeeDee, riding the rails west, brings a final gift and the truth about Cade's murder. In this world forever gone, June survives and triumphs through the grace of family and friendship.