It's 1962, and Samantha is settling into her new home in Mississippi. She and her mom moved there shortly after the death of her father in heroic action while serving in Vietnam. There new home was chosen for two reasons. First, it is close to Sam's father's hometown, which will allow them an opportunity to reconnect with family. The other reason is that Sam's mom has taken a position at a local college teaching art history.

Sam quickly finds herself feeling out of place. She does well in school, but she definitely doesn't understand the mindset of the community, which still celebrates the Civil War. Fortunately, she can turn to her mother for support, but she also has a growing bond with the family's African American maid. It is this relationship that starts to open her eyes to the horrible disparity between the races that is evident.

It isn't just the racial divisions that are highlighted in the book, though. Sam's mom is quickly viewed as being an outsider and an agitator. Besides working full time, Sam's mom is less concerned about making sure her hair, clothes and makeup are just right. Instead, she opts for an easy-to-maintain cropped hairdo, slacks whenever possible, and a clear avoidance of gloves unless they are needed to keep warm. To make matters even worse, she goes out of her way to give talks about art at the nearby African American school.

Their relationship hits a minor bump in the road as Sam's mom starts to see a Perry Walker, who has come to town because of his career as a photojournalist and teacher at the same college as Sam's mother, He and Sam quickly build a connections around his camera as he teachers her how to make use of it. It is through the lens of the camera he gives her, that she gets to see the differences between the black and white residents of her new community.

Perry isn't the only new man in Sam's life, though. She starts building a relationship with Stone, the older brother of one of her classmates. Stone's family is the richest in the town, and they have about everything. Of course, this causes them to look down on Sam and her mom because they are different, but also on the African Americans in the community for simply being lesser beings.

McMullan has done an incredible job of capturing a sense of the time. Readers are drawn into Sam's world. While this results in some shocking moments as people such as Sam's teacher, Mrs. Jenkins, make statements that are horribly bigoted, but they are definitely representative of the time and the place in which the book is set.

The author concludes the book with an interesting Author's Note that highlights that the book really constructs much of the content from real events that either she or those she knows experienced during the town. This only makes some of the horrifying events in the book more real for the reader. This is crucial as today's kids are looking at this time period as being that of their grandparent's youth.