When Tallulah Jones was 13, her grandmother brought her to the family ostrich ranch in the Mojave Desert and spends 11 years caring for the curious, graceful birds. When Grandma Helen dies under strange circumstances, Tallulah inherits everything - just days before the birds inexplicably stop laying eggs. Tallulah tries to force through a sale of the ranch, a task that's complicated by the arrival of her extended family. With no options left, Tallulah must face the 50-year legacy of a family in turmoil: the reality of her grandmother's death, her mother's alcoholism, her uncle's covetous anger, and the 142 ostriches whose lives are in her hands.