Evangeline Brown is a feisty, eleven year old who is ashamed of living with her widowed, alcoholic father in his run-down Florida motel that has the butt end of a pink Cadillac sticking out of the office wall. She is stubbornly independent, but when Farrell, a strange boy her age suddenly appears in town, she cautiously befriends him. Then the new teacher announces that she will make a home visit to every student in the class. Evangeline desperately tries to make her life appear normal to the teacher, but her tentative optimism turns to despair and humiliation during the visit because of her father's behavior. When she and Farrell overhear Ms. Rose tell the school principal she is going to call Social Services about the home lives of some of her students, they are convinced she is talking about them. Feeling unloved, and afraid they both will be sent to foster homes, Eddie and Farrell decide they must take drastic action. Ebook includes bonus alternate ending and discussion questions.