Esch has discovered that she is pregnant by her oldest brother Randall's best friend, a boy who won't even look at her. Nobody knows except maybe her other brother Skeetah, but he is so obsessed with his fighting pit-bull, China, that he's not paying any attention. In bayou Mississippi its a hard life, her town Bois Savage is no exception, It is so wooded and swampy that even their school is someplace else. Daddy can't imagine living any where else, even as hurricane Katrina approaches. When he isn't drunk he is busy preparing the house for the storm, while his children are overlooking the menace of nature because they are so caught up in the brutality of their own lives. This book was written for the adult audience and is only appropriate for older readers.