Jessilyn Lassiter no longer has to convince people sheโs not a child. Having just turned 19 in the summer of 1938, her love for Luke Talley has never been more real. And Luke is finally beginning to care for her in the way sheโs always dreamed of. But their budding romance is interrupted when Tal Pritchettโa young, black doctorโcomes to Calloway, stealing the heart of Jessilynโs best friend, Gemma, and stirring up the racial prejudice that has been simmering just beneath the townโs surface. The tension starts to bubble over when Jessieโs elderly neighbor Miss Cleta becomes the first white townsperson to accept Talโs treatment. And when a young black man is lynched, Calloway is brought to its knees once again as Jessilyn realizes that her anger can make her heart as full of hate as the klan members who have terrorized her town and her family.