In 1955, Maryellen Larkin (Lind) lives with her big family in Daytona Beach, Florida, longing to stand out among her siblings and relatives, even if it meant getting herself into certain trouble like making mischief at a store and wearing pants she took from the boys' department, or painting their house's door red.

Set in 1963, the film revolves around Melody Ellison, an African-American girl living in Detroit, Michigan with her mother Frances and her grandfather Frank. Early on she and her family faced racial inequality in their hometown, whether being bullied at school with a white student named Donald along with his friends for her ethnicity, or be wrongfully accused of shoplifting at a clothing store where Melody's mother works.