With a partially-shaved head, purple Doc Marten boots, and the sinking realization that no one in a fifty-mile radius has ever heard of her favorite punk band, 13-year-old Sydney Vicious Talcott wants to be anywhere but Beaver Dam, NC. But just as life becomes more tolerable with two new book-nerd friends and a growing appreciation for the beauty of the Appalachians, Sydney discovers that a shady corporation is planning to build an environmentally-damaging asphalt plant right next to the school.