Twelve-year-old Fud lives a precarious life in a cramped trailer with her mom and her mom's alcoholic ex-boxer boyfriend, Larry. She can see it's only a matter of time until Larry explodes again, even if her mom keeps on making excuses for his behavior. When Larry comes home with a rusted-out houseboat, Fud is horrified to hear that he wants to fix it up for them to live on permanently. Then new-neighbor Leigh tells Fud about Miss Black Gold, a beauty pageant sponsored by the local coal mine. While Fud doesn't care much about gowns or talents or prancing around on stage, she cares very much about getting herself and her mom away from Larry before the boat is finished. And to do that, she needs money, in particular that Miss Black Gold prize money. One problem: the more Fud fantasizes about escape, the more her connection to the coyotes lurking outside her window grows. And strange things have started happening--is Fud really going color-blind? Are her eyebrows really getting bushier? And why does it suddenly seem like she can smell everything?