Defiance, Ohio, 1956. Just like any other working class families of the era, the Ryans have a clear division of labor-Kelly the husband works as a breadwinner, while Evelyn stays at home taking care of the kids and managing the house chores. The big problem for them is that they have too many kids-ten in fact-and Evelyn has to resort to other means to help make ends meet, one of which means is using her literary talent to enter various jingle-writing contests for the promotion of commercial products? To increase her chances of winning these contests, she enters under each of her kids' names.