Till now, Stephanie has done her best to play by the rules-which seem to be stacked against girls like her. It doesn't help that she wants to play football, dress like a boy, and fight apartheid in South Africa-despite living in rural middle England-as she struggles to find her voice in a world where everything is different for girls.

Then she hears them on the radio. Greenham women-an irreverent group of lesbians, punk rockers, mothers, and activists who have set up camp outside a US military base to protest nuclear war-are calling for backups in the face of imminent eviction from their muddy tents. She heads there immediately, where a series of adventures-from a break-in to a nuclear research center to a doomed love affair with a punk rock singer in a girl band-changes the course of her life forever. But the sense of community she has found is challenged when she faces tragedy at home.