In the present, the girl struggles to move her body around. She feels like she’s in a robot. She moves down a street in a town she knows but has changed since she was last there. In the street, a car comes to a stop in front of her. The woman in it asks her if she’s okay and says she looks like the great-grandkid of a woman. The girl knows that it’s actually her older sister who stayed after she left town long ago. She figures that she probably still looks like a girl now. Quickly, she makes up an excuse and goes to play with children in the nearby playground. The adults whisper about her, pointing out her old clothes.

In 1928, the girl is shown a secret by her friend, both black girls, in a clearing of trees. There, the friend opens her hands and shows a tiny cloud that slightly changes. The friend says it’s growing little by little. The girl pledges to keep it a secret. They then race off, running through the town, through the streets, past the train station where the train is, and back to the friend’s house. Later, the girl dreams about the cloud. Later, the friend shows the girl that the cloud has grown so big that it can fly. She still hides it in the forest, where it is tethered for now. As it’s grown, the friend has made preparations for them to eventually take off into the sky on it. However, the girl hesitates, saying that she isn’t dressed for it. After some arguing, the girl says that she isn’t ready for it and doesn’t want to go, but the girl says it’s in her heart to go and that she must leave today before the cloud gets too big to control. Eventually, the cloud breaks free, with the friend on it, and the girl is too late.

In 1943, the girl’s grandmother has been dead for two decades, and the friend has been gone for fifteen years. One night, the girl creeps into her mother’s bedroom and takes her grandmother’s diary from her nightstand. She reads through it and finds out that her grandmother moved to Oklahoma, to be free, in 1889, and that she worked with a reverend to write and read letters for townsfolk. The girl thinks about her grandmother only lived until the girl was three. Before she can read further, her mother comes in and snatches it from her, saying that it doesn’t belong to her. Her mother says that her grandmother fought hard to build everything in this land and that they must stay here forever, despite everyone’s kids leaving.

In the present, the girl comes up to the kids playing. They are talking about which game they want to play. Eventually, they notice the girl, and everyone introduces themselves. They point out her old clothes, during which the girl thinks about how much time must have passed while she was dead. Right away, the girl says that there’s a buried tin box nearby that they must dig up, but none of the kids are interested. The mean girl says it sounds boring. However, after playing some tag, the kids lose interest and fixate on the buried tin box.

A few days before, the mean girl comes across a secret of her own, a quilt which grows and also speaks, by forming words on its face. At the age of fifteen, she discovers the story of the town, how it was built, by who.

In 1943, the girl prepares to leave town. She goes to the trees where her friend held the cloud. She stashes a buried tin box under a rock, within which is her memories of her friend, including a letter.

As she grows up, the mean girl asks the people around her about the town’s history. Her quilt begins to tell the story of the girl and how the town’s spirit will keep her safe even though she will leave.

In 1943, the girl leaves home and works two jobs to make ends meet. She can’t keep the thought of her friend and instead writes her off as a dream. She falls in love with a man who has a book which grows larger and larger, until it takes a whole bedroom. She asks what the deal is with it, but he doesn’t answer. One day, after making love, he shows it to her, its great size. She asks when she’ll open it, but he ignores her question and acts cold to her. Another day, she sneaks into the bedroom where its held and just looks at it. She then puts a note for him and leaves. She understands why her friend wanted to fly away. Later, another man asks her if she wants to see his secret, which she regrets.

In the end, the girl dies of cancer. She materializes in an arrivals hall in the afterlife. An elderly woman with an afro tells everyone not to worry and that they must choose an item to have for all of eternity. Eager to pass through, she gets to the front of the line and leaves. The girl wonders what item to pick, and picks her grandmother’s diary. She gets to the front of the line and then passes through an archway. There, she sees her grandmother’s diary and a key. The key, for now, is small. It is her secret. She then takes her grandmother’s diary, with the key, and heads down the corridor. Time passes strangely. At the end of the corridor, she sees a doorway covered by a curtain. Beside it is a tiny door with a lock. She realizes the key is too small and instead walks through the covered doorway, behind which is a hill, where she reads her grandmother’s diary, where she reads about the building of the town. Slowly but surely, she feels her grandmother’s presence. Her grandmother tells her to forgive her mother for lying and telling her to stay, but the girl has already forgiven her. They finish reading together. Her grandmother fades away, and the key is large enough. The girl opens the tiny door.

The girl wakes up in a world of green. She struggles to feel her body. Mustering her spirit, she materializes a body out of leaves and twigs, as well as stones, shells, and all that around her. She keeps moving and moving, in her new body, and feels alive again. She sees the place where she buried the tin box, but it’s covered by a fallen tree. Alone, she cannot move it.

Now, the kids are all racing to the fallen tree where the buried tin box is. They race and race, including the girl, who falls behind as her body struggles to stay together, but somehow, her body remains intact, and she wins.

In the future, the mean girl gets involved with Oklahoma’s historical society to learn more about her town’s history. At the age of eighteen, she brings her quilt outside, where it tells her about the future of her town and the freedom of its people.

For now, in the present, the kids push the trunk away. Underneath it is the rock that the girl placed decades before. Quickly, the girl bats away the bugs and digs up the tin box, with help from the mean girl who is no longer mean. Together, they open the tin box, during which the mean girl says that the girl looks just like a relative of another girl among them. The girl asks the mean girl if she’ll always stay in this town, saying it may be hard but worthwhile. In the tin box, all of the memories of the friend return. The girl’s body falls apart, feeling finally freedom.