Coco is 6. She lives in a big house with her mother and aunt. One night, she wakes with a start after a terrible nightmare about a character resembling Woody Woodpecker. She asks her mom to call the police.

Sue Ellen Crandell is a teenager eagerly awaiting her mother's summer-long absence. While the babysitter looks after her rambunctious younger siblings, Sue Ellen can party and have fun. But then the babysitter abruptly dies, leaving the Crandells short on cash. Sue Ellen finds a sweet job in fashion by lying about her age and experience on her résumé. But, while her siblings run wild, she discovers the downside of adulthood