When Lily’s father is sent to jail for stealing, Lily’s mother has to sell their house and car and move into the city to find a job. Lily’s mother, older brother Case, and her all move into a very small apartment. Lily is only six, and she doesn’t understand why she has to share a bedroom with Mommy when Case has his own room. Because Case is twelve and needs his privacy, Mommy made a room for Case by hanging a sheet from the ceiling.
Lily decides she needs her privacy, too. Her friend Daisy has her own bedroom, and her friend LaVon gets to share a room with her big sister. Lily comes up with a plan. She is going to sleep in the bathtub.
Mommy puts Lily’s blankets and pillows in the bathtub and uses the chair cushions to try to make Lily comfortable. She even hangs a bucket from the faucet to catch the drips. Despite their efforts, Lily has a terrible time. The bathtub is very hard even with the cushions, and Lily knocks the drip bucket off the faucet and gets very wet. She ends up crawling into bed with Mommy.
The next night, Lily decides she is going to sleep under the dining room table. Mommy makes a tent with Lily’s comforter, but the comforter isn’t long enough to block out all the light. Lily finally falls asleep, but she wakes up when a spider crawls over her face. Again, she crawls into bed to sleep with Mommy.
Lily is still determined to have her own room. Next, she is going to try Mommy’s closet floor. Mommy cleans all the shoeboxes out of the closet and makes a bed for Lily. The closet is dark and scary, and Lily is so lonely she can’t fall asleep. She gives up and goes to sleep with her mother.
Case has a plan. He takes Lily and Mommy to a resale shop, and they buy an old folding screen. They take the screen home, paint it, and buy a frog-covered fabric to stretch across the frame. Mommy sets up the screen, Case rearranges the furniture, and suddenly Lily has a room of her very own.