The book is set on the lower Eastern Shore of Virginia in the late 50s. When word comes to Turner and Stella Allen that Shorty King has been found dead in his house, they breathe a sigh of relief, certain that they and their family, particularly their eleven-year-old daughter, Carrie, are finally free of the ongoing trauma that this racist man has inflicted upon them over the past year. But they don’t know the whole story. They know that Carrie had a crush on young Earl Togan, a 23 year-old law student, much beloved by the black community for his academic and athletic excellence, and that she had grieved to the point of losing her health when he was lynched by a party of seven white men. They know that Shorty King was the only member of that lynching party who came away alive. But only Carrie knows how significant the coroner’s report of death by natural causes really is.