In 1963, Kizzy Ann Stamps is starting at a new school, the just-integrated public school, and she's worried. She's worried that the white students won't like her, and she's worried they'll stare at the scar that runs from the tip of her right eye to the corner of her smile, the scar a neighbor boy gave her, in a farming accident. Now this same boy won't stop following Kizzy and Shag, her beloved border collie, everywhere they go, even when they're practicing for an upcoming herding competition. Even though they have been training hard, Kizzy and her coach aren't sure they'll even let her, a black girl, enter the competition.