Eight-year-old Edda's world is shattered the day her father is killed in a strip mining accident. Edda has always been a lonely child, and without her father beside her, she feels that her connection to the world has been severed. But she bravely assumes the responsibility of holding her family -- especially her grieving mother -- together. As the years slip by, Edda grows up quickly into an adult world that is often mysterious and bewildering. And she slowly comes to accept that her family may be hurt, but they are still whole.