A single mother and her son from small Beachtown, Missouri, decide to indulge on a vacation to New York City. When an accident changes their lives, the teenage boy finds out that there is a large bill from the hospital waiting in the mailbox. Being the small population that Beachtown is, the boy finds only one place to earn pay: the slaughterhouse.
As his misadventures unfold, he learns about his work environment and knows that things need to change. He puts his personal feelings aside and takes some action, besides, the Humane Slaughter Act of 1958 still remained unenforced. Could this be the last place he works?
The author, Dinah Havens, lives in Springfield, Missouri. She graduated from high school and went to Missouri State University on a full scholarship. She is thirty-six years old and has a cat named Yowlee.