The Taste Of Paradise is the story of a young man who moves with his parents to a small town in South Georgia in the summer of 1956, where his father becomes the Superintendent of Schools. At a young age Canaan Cross witnessed the tragic death of a friend. He supressed the pain and sorrow he felt, and buried it somewhere deep within. But the summer of his arrival in a new setting is filled with sorrow, tragedy, death, and murder, including the most shattering event, the death of his grandfather. In the process he takes a job picking cotton on a local farm, becomes friends with migrant workers from Mexico, a strong African-American woman, and a boy who lives next door to him. But can his association with them enable him to make peace with life during that fateful summer?