The Turner family's saga of life and conflict begins in the Southern cotton mill village where several members of the family share one of the small rented company houses that surrounds the mammoth Banner Cotton Mill located in Pine Valley, North Carolina. Emma Lee rules the roost, holding the family together for Cindy, aged seven, and Punky, aged two, who have been abandoned by their mother, Emma Lee's cousin. Added to the mix are her older brother, Doc, a younger sister, Mavis, and her alcoholic husband and their younger brother, Johnny B., who sleeps there but is rarely home. The eldest member of the clan is Aunt Ellie, aged 72, still working at the mill days and tending her nine cats in the evening.The mill owners run the village like a serfdom and the Turner family struggles to hold on to their dreams despite the oppression by the owners and the low wages earned at the mill. Eventually the Turners unite and rebel.Mirroring the true plight of those who labored in Southern cotton mills, hard times are almost always there for the Turners. But the love and encouragement of family makes their lives bearable as they struggle on hoping for a better tomorrow.