Sixteen-year-old Jessie Thompson reluctantly moves with her mother and older sister to Savannah, Georgia, in the summer of 1943 to work as a welder on the Liberty Ships. Her main goal is to survive long enough to return to Alabama and finish high school. But will she be able to survive when tragedy strikes and she has to learn how to “weld” her life back together amid the uncertainties of the war?

This story, while fictional, may include details from the experiences of Jane Tucker, a close friend of Davies who was a real "Rosie the Riveter," along with several other "Rosies" Davies met through Tucker. The stories Davies heard and read inspired Becoming Jestina, which is dedicated to Tucker and all the other women who worked during World War II and changed the way women participated in the workplace.