Opal is a lonely little girl - her mother has left home, and her father is too depressed by the desertion and wrapped up in his vocation as a preacher to take much notice of Opal. When they move to a strange and unfamiliar town, things get worse, so it's not surprising that she's delighted when a stray dog comes into her life. She adopts him, names him after the supermarket where he was found (Winn-Dixie) and his friendship changes her life. Slowly she makes friends in her new hometown and encounters a wide range of eccentric characters whilst slowly, but surely growing closer to her father. It's a touching, gently amusing and heart-warming tale of one girl and her dog.