Dubbed "Dumplin'" by her former beauty queen mom, sixteen-year-old Willowdean has always been at home in her own skin. With her all-American-beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked, until Will takes a job at Harpy's, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn't surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back. Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Teen Blue Bonnet Pageant--along with several other unlikely candidates--to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does.