Two seemingly separate stories are told which eventually intersect. In the first, single mother Maben and her adolescent daughter Analee are homeless, everything Maben doing in the goal of giving the two of them a life together, foremost in her mind for Analee's good in not wanting Analee ever to feel that she was unwanted. However, Maben's choices have led to their current less than perfect life, which has them living out of a plastic bag, they needing to steal things to live, and Maben falling to the oldest profession as that last resort for money. In their recent move to Mississippi for reasons personal to Maben, Maben faces arguably the biggest problem in keeping their life together. In the second, Russell has just been released from prison. In his Mississippi hometown, he does have some support in the form of his recently widowed father Mitchell, and his best friend, Boyd. Boyd being a police officer has its own complications for Russell as Russell tries to evade brothers Larry and Walt, Larry in particular who feels that Russell's time in prison was not enough penance. When Russell and Maben eventually do meet under less than ideal circumstances for both, he comes to feel a need to provide assistance to her which is only strengthened when he discovers their shared history, he likening their joint life as being tied together with an invisible string.