Expelled from thirteen boarding schools in the past five years, seventeen-year-old Jane Fontaine Ventouras is returning to her Southern roots, and the small town of Bienville, Alabama, where ladies always wear pearls, nothing says hospitality like sweet teaand pimento cheese sandwiches, and competing in the annual Magnolia Maid Pageant is every girl's dream.But Jane is what you might call an anti-belle - more fishnets and tattoos than sugar and spice. The last thing on her mind is joining the Magnolia Maid brigade and parading around town ina dress so big she can't even fi t through doors. So when she finds herself up to her ears in ruffl es and etiquette lessons, she's got one Escape.What's a hipster to do? Will Jane survive Bienville boot camp intact or will they - gasp! - make a Southern belle out of her yet?