Plain Jane and pretty Betty : or, The girl who won out

Jane Cross has spent her childhood in the bleak mining town of Coal Run, where the rough manners of the locals left her feeling out of step. Adopted by the kindly Powell family after her own mother's death, she has learned to keep her appearance immaculate and her spirit subdued, earning the cruel nickname “Plain Jane.” Now, at sixteen, she watches a moving van arrive, the last physical reminder of the town she will soon leave behind.

The Powells have secured a modest bookkeeping job in Greenville, a town forty miles away that promises fresh faces and quieter streets. Jane hopes her careful manners will finally earn her acceptance, though the lingering sting of her Coal Run bullying makes her hyper‑aware of any slight. As the porch door closes behind her, she steps onto an unfamiliar road, carrying both the weight of past wounds and a quiet determination to reshape her future.