The impoverished Scurvy family - the scourge of Swanoochee County in south Georgia - must somehow raise the money to hold a proper funeral for their mother, who has died giving birth to a baby girl. Responsibility for the newborn falls unceremoniously upon Loujean, the only sister among three brothers and a useless father, and the sixteen-year-old accepts the infant as both a pleasant burden and a glimmer of goodness in her life.

The other spark of hope for Loujean is Earl - her gangly, chivalrous redneck suitor, who says the wrong things but lives by a good heart.

With few prospects for burying her mother, it is up to Loujean's three brothers to come up with a solution. Buck, the eldest, breaks ranks with a generations-long, impassable feud and approaches the local county commissioner (and crook) to earn the money. Pee Wee, a perpetually intoxicated Korean War veteran, means well but can barely fend for himself, much less provide for others.

The youngest is Alamand, a sensitive boy whose artistic brilliance makes him incompatible with his native backwoods community, who reacts to his mother's death with a soul-searching retreat. Lastly there is Earl - the boys' aloof companion, looking to win Loujean's heart - who stumbles onto his own unlikely heroism though simple kindness and sacrifice. Dressed up in his good yellow shirt, Earl is at his best as he searches for a way to land on his feet and repair the dysfunction around him.