Astrid is 12 years old when her mother walks out the door, never to return. Astrid lives with a father who can be violent. Some weekends she gets to stay with her grandmother and the dog Buster, other weekends she has to stay with her father's friend Frank, who doesn't treat her the way an adult man should treat a young girl. Astrid finds ways to survive; she studies nature and ants to see how they manage.

If I Were Agnes is at times a somber and bleak story, but also one of hope.