Meg Loughlin is a fourteen-year-old young woman who is sent to live with her aunt following the death of her parents. She and her sister are bright, pretty, and happy young women at the beginning of the story, although it is clear early on that Meg has reservations about her aunt Ruth. Over a short time, she and David Moran begin a friendship, but Meg is consistently berated by her cousins and their mother. Told she is fat, Meg is neither allowed to eat nor enter the kitchen. When she disobeys, she is hit, or her sister is hit instead. When Meg finally attempts to tell authorities of the abuse, she is not believed and is severely beaten.