It's 1968 in the rural coastline town of Denton, Florida, and the only thing with a tougher life than twelve-year-old Jack Turner is a starving dog named Bones. When they meet while Jack is fishing, Jack knows that he and Bones are meant for each other, and he promises his oft-absent alcoholic parents that he'll somehow get a job to pay for his new dog's food and care. In the process of finding work, Jack meets Hank Pittman, a middle-aged man who lives in a dilapidated school bus at the harbor, and Mrs. Mary Jane Dawson, an eccentric but kind older woman in need of gardening help. As Bones nurses back to health, Hank and Mrs. Dawson become the caring parents Jack never had. But gossip and lies about Jack's growing relationships lead to an attack on Bones' life and questions about secrets in Hank's past. When Hank is put on trial for a crime he didn't commit, everything Jack holds dear is set in the balance of that small-town courtroom.