Insulated from the world, a self-assured precocious little girl believes that all she needs, all she will ever need, lies within the boundaries of her street and just barely beyond the property lines of her parents' home.

Life is idyllic for Katie, a the six year old living in a suburb in Louisville Kentucky KY in the early sixties. Her neighborhood offers every imaginable pleasure: plenty of places for exploration, loyal friends, the occasional walk to Whirlies, bike rides and go-carts and cardboard sleds.

When the racism snakes itself into her neighborhood, the little girl struggles to reconcile the illogic of this intruder with everything she knows and loves.

The answer to her questions comes dressed up as an aloof old woman in dull baggy clothes driving an old pickup truck from Nebraska.

You will be charmed as you come to know Katie Arlene Morgenstern, Mama and Papa, Danny Watson and his family, a small group of teaching nuns, Katie's neighbors, and just past the old barn at the end of Thistlewood Drive, the residents of the Rainbow Forrest.

And, of course, dear Aunt Myrna.