Neva, fifteen and visibly pregnant, rides in silence as her furious father drives her away from Alabama and into Florida. When Neva asks why they are going the wrong direction, Neva’s father explodes, blaming Neva for ruining the family and saying it would have been better if Neva had never been born. He finally admits he has found a place for Neva to stay with other girls “in your condition,” and Neva realizes he is sending her to a Home.

Neva panics, remembering rumors that Homes are brutal places where girls are punished and their babies are taken. Neva tries to bargain—offering to hide, clean, and obey—while Neva’s father coldly repeats that Neva has ruined everything. As they continue through the flat, blazing Florida landscape, the radio alternates between hellfire preaching, baseball, and news, deepening Neva’s sense that the world and Neva’s life are out of control.

During a stop at Burger King, Neva stays in the car, ashamed of how strangers judge her protruding stomach and bare ring finger. Neva compares herself to other girls she once gossiped about and feels branded as “trash.” Neva’s father gives her only a small cheeseburger while he eats a larger meal, reinforcing the power imbalance and his resentment.

Neva’s thoughts spiral into how she tried to “fix” the pregnancy and failed, and how little anyone would explain about childbirth. Neva recalls telling Guy—her boyfriend—about the pregnancy by the fountain on Valentine’s Day, expecting reassurance, but Guy reacted with tears and accusation: “How could you do this to me?” After Guy left, Neva lived in fear, hid her changing body with girdles and oversized clothes, and withdrew from school and theater.

Eventually, the school nurse forced the truth by threatening to tell Neva’s parents. Neva tried to present a practical plan—claim mono, stay hidden, and send the baby to an orphanage—but her parents shut her out, sent her siblings away, and held decisions without her. After Neva was sent to Aunt Peggy’s confinement and was caught shoplifting paperbacks, Neva’s father was called; now, in Florida, Neva begs to stop for a bathroom. At the gas station, Neva’s father removes his own wedding ring and makes Neva wear it so strangers will assume she is married, leaving Neva certain everyone still knows the truth and believing it would be better if Neva were dead.