of Greenville, South Carolina, is a tight-knit clan of rough-hewn men who drink hard and shoot up each other's trucks, and indomitable women who marry young and age all too quickly. Ruth Anne Boatwright, the bastard child known simply as Bone--because she was pronounced 'no bigger than a knucklebone' when she was born--shares her observations from the heart of their world with keen perspective. When her mother, Anney, marries Glen Waddell, the black sheep of a prominent family, Bone sees through the sugary reassurances she and her sisters are given to the hard realitites ahead. After Anney miscarries his child, Daddy Glen takes out his anger on the weakest target and tears the family apart by claiming to need Anney's love and care more than her own young daughters do. Bone then finds herself caught in a family triangle that leads to a harrowing encounter--one from which there can be no turning back (Allison).