Cotton Mary is a poignant fictional account of a young woman who attempts to overcome a life destined to be spent as a field hand, and a lack of formal education by moving to town and working as a cotton mill hand in the early 1930's. Marriage and children elevate her ambitions far beyond a mill village existence. Deeply held convictions drive this independent woman to push her husband to seek greener pastures for the sake of their family. Following a series of sometimes comical, sometimes tragic gypsy-like ventures through Alabama, Mary finally achieves her goal of building a house of her own only to find herself completely alone at midlife. Her return to work in the cotton mill and to long-forgotten fellow laborers triggers a flood of questions about the meaning of her life, questions she cannot ignore.