Addy Shadd is an old woman at seventy; nevertheless, she agrees to take care of 5-year-old Sharla Cody for the summer thinking that maybe some company would be good after being without for so long. But when the willful girl shows up late without clothes or money, Addy starts to rethink about taking on this obligation, although it pains her to see how much mothering this big and awkward "little" girl needs. The next day she's still considering returning the girl to her mother. But then she finds that Sharla's mother, the trashy white woman Collette Depuis, has emptied her trailer and left Lakeview with her boyfriend in the middle of the night. It's fairly certain that her very own mother has abandoned Sharla. Addy now understands what the one-more-thing is that her long-dead brother Leam says she must take care of before it is her time to go. As for Sharla, she is happy to live with "Mum Addy."