While in the Winn-Dixie supermarket, Opal encounters a scruffy Berger Picard that is wreaking havoc. Opal (not wanting the store manager to send the dog to the pound) claims that it is her dog and names it "Winn-Dixie". Winn-Dixie becomes friends with everyone he encounters, and so Opal makes some new friends in the process. She also rekindles her relationship with her father, and learns ten things about her mother, who abandoned them seven years ago. Opal describes the preacher as a turtle, always sticking his head into his turtle shell, and never wanting to come out into the real world. This is most likely because of how sad he is about her mother, with whom he is still in love.