A teenage girl living in 1908 rural Indiana attends high school despite her mother's fierce opposition of her life, the friendship of a free-spirted older woman helps her stick to her goals.

The Roses, Barbara and Oliver, live happily as a married couple. Then she starts to wonder what life would be like without Oliver, and likes what she sees. Both want to stay in the house, and so they begin a campaign to force each other to leave. In the middle of the fighting is D'Amato, the divorce lawyer. He gets to see how far both will go to get rid of the other, and boy do they go far.