Carly, a southern California high school grad, is plucked from her beach vacation and dropped on a farm in upstate New York to visit relatives of the deceased father-she-never-knew. While there, she learns about her great-grandmother, Tina, the daughter of Italian immigrants, living during the 1930’s depression. Though she becomes the caregiver to her widowed father and three siblings, Tina’s dream of a fashion career in NYC helps her to survive on the south side of a small town amid prejudice and political corruption. Despite her lack of interest in her relatives, the story comes alive for Carly when she is drawn into Tina’s struggles with poverty, illness, grief, and romance in an era so different than her own.