In June 1980, Beth Easton (Christina Ricci) and her recently widowed mother, Kate (Polly Draper) move from Los Angeles to a small town in northern Washington, where they move into Kate's aunt's farmhouse. At first, Beth misses L.A. and resents their new life in the country. In town, she encounters Jody Salerno (Anna Chlumsky), a troubled but free-spirited teenager who has a bad reputation in the town. While riding her bike the next day, Beth is forced off the road by a semi-truck, and plummets down a steep ravine, crashing her bicycle into a river, where Jody is fishing.