Lily Owens is a young girl who lives on the peach farm that her abusive father owns. Rosaleen is a black woman hired by Lily's father to be a stand in mother for Lilly. Rosaleen insults some of the biggest racists in their town. Lily and Rosaleen run away to a town Lily believes that her mother once lived in. They go to live with the three Boatwright sisters on their honey farm. She finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping.

Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school (the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year) before she begins high school.

Patty and Lauren are two freshman girls desperate to fit in at Weemawee High School. Befriended by oddball characters Marshall, a budding comedian, and Johnny Slash, a wacky new-waver, Patty and Lauren still hope to impress the popular kids: valley girl Jennifer, her tough boyfriend Vinnie, and their sassy friend LaDonna and Muffy, the ever-peppy preppie.