Possum Porter has had it with change. First she lost Mama,leaving a hole nothing can fill. And nowinstead of trying to return to some kind of normalDaddy’s sending Possum to school. A real schoolwhere you have to wear SHOES. Where some Yankee teacher will try to erase all the useful things Mama taught Possum during their lessons at home. So Possum comes up with a plan. If she can prove that she already knows everything worth knowingDaddy will let her quit school and stay where she belongs. She won’t have to deal with snooty classmatesor worry about tarnishing Mama’s memory. But unfortunatelyPossum doesn’t shoot to the top of the class like she expected. Even worsethe unmarried Yankee teacher seems to have her eyes on someone . . . Possum’s Daddy. With time running outPossum decides to do something drastic to get away from school-and get Daddy out of Ms. Arthington’s clutches-or risk losing everything that’s keeping her broken heart glued together.