Eighth grader, Amanda Craftton bent to peer pressure. She slipped away from school at lunch time with her friends. They went to the mall to get tattoos. Afterward, one of the friends invites the girls to go home with her to sample a beer. The time got away from them, making them late for math class. The teacher sent them to the principal's office for a tardy slip. The principal smelled beer on the girls' breath and suspended the girls from school for the last six weeks of the term. Amanda's parents don't seem to be able to make Amanda understand what she did was wrong. Her mother, Iris, decides to send Amanda south to Arkansas. She has to live with her grandparents on their farm for the summer in Pleasant Valley without many modern conveniences. Amanda's parents hope the elderly couple's no nonsense ways will teach Amanda a better path to follow. Living with her grandparents, Amanda certainly knows when she goofs, because Grandma Tansy is quick with a lecture that starts "Listen to me, Honey."