The Secret Agenda of Trees is set in a rural community in the backwoods of America where escape and fantasy substitute for hope: a tattered bond holds together Veronica, a 13-year-old who survives on a dream-life filled with Rosemary Clooney and Veronica Lake, and her mother, who dulls the pain of work at a slaughterhouse with booze and meth. As Veronica develops a dubious crush on a tattooed boy from study hall, and her mother invites a mysterious stranger into their ramshackle home, the cycles of dependency become increasingly dangerous and holding the world at bay may prove impossible.