In the early 1960s, Crawford struggles to accept that his family and the farm that is his base are bleeding away just like the eroding red soil on the hills of the Great Copper Basin where he lives. He must balance working nights and catching chickens, as he struggles to gain the acceptance of this crude-talking fraternity of poultry laborers who teach him many of life's painful secrets much too early, as they transport him to the other side of adolescence.