Set in rural Ohio, The Clearing tells the story of twelve-year-old Sadie Watkins, whose world is being uprooted by her mother's disease: a severe form of multiple sclerosis.

As Sadie faces the impending grief of losing her mother, she also feels the fading of her childhood and longs for her imagination to return. She seeks solace in the woods behind her house, where she processes her overwhelming home life through traditional Appalachian herbology, pressing and cataloging flowers and plants like a budding scientist.

When Sadie meets Cali, a barefoot wild child who seems to come from nowhere, the two become instant friends. Cali re-introduces Sadie to the wonders of the forest and gives her the courage she needs to face the future - the one without her mom.

This novel intertwines grief, love, nature, and wonder. It also acts as a time capsule of the healthcare crisis in the early 2000s, and the many American families like Sadie's who had to make great sacrifices when illness struck.