Delly Porter enjoys the feel of soft dirt beneath her feet as she walks to and from school, but after a classmate makes her feel ashamed of having no shoes she learns that her parents and others, too, see value in things that do not cost money.
During the Great Depression, seven-year-old Ruby's family leaves their Oklahoma home to seek work in California, where Ruby meets Dorothea Lange, who takes a photograph that becomes known as "Migrant mother." Includes historical note.