"How would you like to be queen for a day?" Those words opened a popular game show of the 1950s.

Teenage girls like Catty Wadsworth gazed upon sweet ladies on the show, who receive a gift--such as a new stove! Each woman has submitted a story of a tragic accident, disease, or an important need, like a wheelchair. Catty hopes for a new car for the family so her mother, the sole breadwinner, can get to work alive.

Catty is a fantasizer; she dreams of Hollywood romances, but she lives in the reality of a single mom with low-paying jobs. She makes friends and leaves them, over and over, in a rootless journey through small Southern schools. Yet Catty has the spunk to make friends wherever she goes, even a boyfriend who promises her a car. Catty grows through tears and courage in this novel of a quest for security and a strong sense of self-worth.