Sixteen-year-old Willowdean wants to prove to everyone in her small Texas town that she is more than just a fat girl, so, while grappling with her feelings for a co-worker who is clearly attracted to her, Will and some other misfits prepare to compete in the beauty pageant her mother runs.

Liv Brewer, former pageant queen and reality-TV star, was groomed for a life in the spotlight. Her older brother Jory, born with a partial facial paralysis, was left in the shadows. The only thing they have in common is contempt for their parents. Now Liv is suing her mom and dad for emancipation; on the day of the hearing their parents disappear. Liv suspects that Jory knows more than he's telling. As the duo speeds through the deserts of Nevada,...