It's summer, 1984, in blue-collar Swaffham, Massachusetts.
Mel is thirteen, drinking a Slush Puppie at the drugstore, when she hears a voice, 'deep and movie-star dramatic, like Lauren Bacall': Sylvia.
What follows is a story of transgender awakening. Sylvia's shameless swagger and tough-girl trans femininity is an affront to the Swaffham locals, and her presence triggers hatred and, ultimately, violence. But it is also a catalyst for Mel.
Through her friendship with Sylvia, Mel comes to realise that not only is there a world beyond Swaffham, there are other ways of being, free from the class and gender roles embodied by her cruel, vulnerable mother Irene or her best friend, the troubled Jules.