Set in an isolated coal-mining town in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, In a Bluebird's Eye is a moving portrayal of the world of a young girl growing up in the 1930s.

Although America is in the midst of the Depression, life in the provincial community of Margate has been unaffected. But suddenly the Black Diamond Coal Company announces its plans to close down, and the town is thrown into a state of panic.

Eleven-year-old Honor Jane Whitfield sees the disintegration of the community as her salvation. A lonely, rebellious child, she hates Margate, where her father's drinking and her mother's petty snobbishness have made outcasts of the Whitfield family. She finds solace only in the private world of her imagination and in her secret friendship with Lola, a black woman who has served time in prison for killing a man. When Honor Jane learns that Lola is in danger of being sent back to prison, she devises a risky plan to save her, not realizing the danger involved.