A scoundrel is tormented by a seemingly-omniscent telephone operator.

In 1910, 19-year-old Horace Robedaux, still bitter toward his stepfather, goes to Houston to be reunited with his mother, Corella, and his sister, Lily Dale, following a long estrangement. He has not seen either since he was 12 because his wicked stepfather, Pete Davenport (whom his mother married after his father drank himself to death) believes a boy ought to be self-reliant.

An awkward 13-year-old leaves her cranky grandfather in rural Texas, to live with her mother in Fort Worth.