A young girl named Mary Alice and her mother take a train down to Florida to visit the girl's father and uncle Charley, where the men have been working on a farm. On the road back from the train station, the father tells the mother that her brother Charley has married into a Southern family. Being a Northerner, the mother is distraught. At the house, Mary Alice meets Charley and his new wife, Aunt Molly. On the first day, Charley plays with Mary Alice, helping her up on top of a horse. After a while, however, Uncle Charley only visits to help Mary Alice's father dig a well. Mary Alice notices that her mother plays with her less than she used to as well. One day, Mary Alice and her mother visit Aunt Molly's house. The young girl is intimidated by the southerner's big family. At dinner, Mary Alice makes a scene, not wanting to eat off of a tin plate that wasn't white. Her mother reprimands her, forcing her to be polite and eat before they go home. At night, Charley visits and Mary Alice overhears a bit of the conversation. Her mother wants Charley to leave his wife and come live with them, but Charley says that he's in too deep already. He says that they are moonshiners, but Mary Alice doesn't know what that means. In the morning, the girl's mother says that what she heard was just a dream. She also tells her daughter to never eat anything unless she has permission from her mother. On the farm, the father notices that the cow's legs had been cut, so he was forced to kill it. While Mary Alice plays outside during the day, she gets a visit from Aunt Molly. Aunt Molly gives the girl a red gumball, telling her to chew it. Because it's something you chew and don't swallow, Mary Alice thinks it might be okay to eat. But before she can get it in her mouth, her mother sees and takes the gumball away until dinner. That afternoon, she offers her daughter a big pan of peanuts in exchange for the gumball. Mary Alice agrees. While the peanuts are roasting in the oven, the mother goes outside and tosses the gumball to a chicken, which kills the bird instantly. She hurries inside and collapses around her daughter, realizing how close they had been to tragedy. That night, the family packs up and leaves Florida. Uncle Charley finds them on their way and tells them that he is stuck there, but that they can still make it out. The family continues on without Charley. Mary Alice senses something is wrong, but she innocently drifts off to sleep.