Thalia Poser chronicles the dreams and struggles of a family in a mining town in eastern Kentucky in 1960. Thalia Poser, forty-three, is a lanky, tomboyish, yet attractive woman who can express herself only through drawing and painting. Thalia uses her keen wit and sharp tongue as a shield while yearning to share her dreams with someone capable of understanding her.

A large coal company covets the Poser family's property because of its prime location. Thalia's son, Ollie, has an almost fanatical attachment to the land, believes coal mining will destroy the environment and their way of life, and has vowed to fight to keep their land.