Ora Larrabie comes from a large family with many brothers and sisters, living with her parents in a government camp for migrant workers in California. Ora is eight years old, and is very smart. At school, she does very well in classes and is well liked by her teachers. One of her school friends, Hester, begins whispering to the other girls one day at school about a party. Ora prays she will be invited, but never received an invitation even though she and Hester are friendly with each other. Finally, on Friday as she is walking out of school, Hester finds Ora and whispers the details to her- from 4 to 6 at the Hester Ranch, and something else Ora doesn't quite catch in the chaos of the afterschool crowd. Ora goes home and tells anyone who will listen about her party invitation. Her sisters help her put her hair in curlers, and her brothers loan her their Mexican jumping beans and a pair of taxidermied bluejay feathers to pin to her hat. Her mother makes her a new dress out of leftover fabric. She heads to the party dressed in these things and feels nervous and excited to be at a party dressed her very best. Her father drops her off at the road and she walks down the long driveway to the house. When she is approaching, she hears Hester's mother say that she does not want Hester interacting with children from the camp outside fo school. The grandmother tells Hester's mother to let the child attend and punish Hester after if she must do something. Ora feels uncomfortable and wants to leave but has nowhere to go. She waits until the other party guests arrive. They are all in bizarre outfits made up of scraps of cloth and fake patches and odd hats. Ora realizes the party was meant to be a tacky party. The other children look at her outfit and assume it is meant to look cheap and tacky, and praise her for how tacky it is. Ora feels even worse and cannot wait until the party ends, even though she wins many games and the prize for the tackiest outfit and gets to eat cake. She wins a prize for the outfit contest, but leaves the prize gift in the ditch by the road because she doesn't want her mother to find out that the other children though the dress she made for her was tacky. Her father picks her up and she is relieved to be back with him. She offers him the leftover cookies Hester's grandmother sent her home with, but he declines. He tells her it looks like she had a good time, and she sinks into the seat, agreeing with him when he exclaims that socializing is hard work.