Henley's next feature film was Miss Firecracker (1989), based on the play The Miss Firecracker Contest (1979). Carnelle Scott, a social outcast played by Holly Hunter, enters the local beauty pageant in an attempt to change her reputation. Set in Yazoo, Mississippi, the film's cast includes Tim Robbins, as Carnelle's deranged cousin; Mary Steenburgen as a classic southern belle and former "Miss Firecracker"; Alfre Woodard as a local seamstress who credits bullfrogs for her talents, and Scott Glenn, Carnelle's beau.

The items featured in this exhibit demonstrate how Henley's creativity grew from handwritten drafts in spiral-bound notebooks to produced plays and then to the big screen. On display are handwritten drafts from both plays, Crimes of the Heart press materials, and published books.