It's the late 1940s in Letcher County, Kentucky, and in the raucous mountain hamlet of Roxana, young Forester Hogg and his brother Jim court death daily as they try earnestly to emulate adult behaviors that would chill a mother's heart to learn of them. Dire family circumstances cause the boys to be placed with elderly foster parents, Bill and Mary, at the head Paces's Branch. These temporary "parents" live off the land and supplement their old-age pension with a secret moonshine still. And the boys adjust to a lifestyle that remains a century behind the times. It's a coming of age story that asks the question: why can't all life lessons just be funny, instead of painful, or embarrassing, or, as is usual with these two brothers, all three at the same time?