The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Euwer Wolff, Virginia. Henry Holt and Company, 1993.

Verna begins the novel looking for a part-time job to make money that she wants to save for college. She responds to a babysitting job posted by a girl named Jolly. When Verna goes to visit Jolly, she learned that Jolly is a teenage mother with two children by two different fathers. She is struck by how unkempt and messy Jolly’s home is, and she feels a particular compulsion to help her in any way that she can. When she asks her mother if she is allowed to work with Jolly, although Verna’s mother is not enthusiastic, she allows it. At school, Verna convinces her friends that working for Jolly is more than just a job because she is helping somebody who needs it.

Verna throws herself into her work with Jeremy and Jilly, and she often tries to find ways to teach the children and to make them feel valued. She occasionally stays overnight when Jolly has to work late, and she begins to see a small dip in her grades. When Jolly comes home with her face bloody, Verna learns that Jolly’s boss tried to sexually assault her. Verna is struck by Jolly’s lack of a support network, and the fact that she does not have parents to call to help her through tough times.

Verna spends so much time with the children that she begins to love them almost like her own siblings. Jolly and Verna also grow closer as friends, but there are still some topics the girls are unwilling to share with each other. For example, Jolly asks Verna about her father's death when she was a young girl, and Verna lies and says that he died of a heart attack rather than was the victim of a shooting. On the other hand, Jolly is unwilling to talk about the fathers of her children with Verna, even though Verna cannot fully understand how Jolly receives no support from them.

As the novel continues, Verna begins to push Jolly to go back to school and to begin a self-esteem course with her. Jolly is initially reluctant because she does not feel as though she can do any better. She is not comfortable where she is, but at least it is familiar. Jolly does eventually join the class with Verna, and she grows in her feelings of capability and desires for growth.

As the novel draws to a close, Jolly begins preparing to move on. She has plans to graduate from high school and to begin looking for better jobs in order to support her children. She is grateful for Verna’s help, but she wants to have the opportunity to stand on her own and to exercise her newly formed sense of self-worth and self-esteem. Verna continues on at school, studying harder than ever and strengthening her connection with her mother. She misses the children often, but she is just grateful that the help she gave Jolly propelled her on to a brighter future.