The play is in two acts and is the story of a small town Mississippi woman, Carnelle, who wnats desparately to be chosen Miss Firecracker during the towns July 4th celebration. Since she was most often known as Miss Hot Tamale in the past, she believes that winning the new title will give her a completely new image and allow her to leave town in a blaze of glory. Complications ensue when her slightly kookie cousins, Delmount and Elaine, show up and make her life alternately wonderful and miserable. Augmented by her only friends, Popeye, a seamstress who sews clothes for frogs and Mac Sam, the town n'er-do-well, Carnelle struggles on to learn her dancing routine which includes fireworks and abaton.