Ronald Cov­ing­ton has been med­ical­ly diag­nosed as trans­gen­der, but has a moth­er who can’t accept her teen daughter—or even the con­cept of being fem­i­nine. Con­nie McPher­son, a close friend, rec­og­nizes that because of their past, nei­ther of the Cov­ing­tons knows what it means to be a girl or woman. Con­nie strug­gles with a past as well—the death of her daugh­ter. A com­pro­mise is reached: Ronald will come to live with Con­nie as Jes­si­ca. Over time they will try to heal and learn what it means to be female—and more impor­tant­ly, to be ful­ly human.