The year is 1918. The world is ravaged by the First World War and the "Spanish flu" pandemic, while on a Texas farm, a girl named Pearl is struggling. She dreams of escaping this desolate place and becoming a dancer, but instead, she is forced to obey her strict mother, care for her paralyzed father, and patiently wait for her husband to return from the front. When Pearl learns that auditions for a spot in a dance troupe will be held in a nearby town, she resolves to get there at any cost.