A father stops his white son from playing with his black friend. The ten-year-olds, Billy and Eugene, defy him. Sam and Ruby Lowe, Billy’s parents, gave the McGee’s a place to live and help to better their lives. No good deed goes unpunished. Their kindness places the Lowe’s and McGee’s at risk. Risk turns to reality when one of the McGee girls is murdered. The racially volatile Riverhills County, Alabama, ignites. An old war hero, Sheriff A.B. Compton, must solve the crime or fight another war. The funeral is more than Eugene can bear, having just lost his father. Eugene and Billy leave the funeral to find a burnt out mansion and a swamp are keys in solving the murder. Sam Lowe is arrested for the murder. The Devil is set loose as Sam Lowe faces execution. But in the end two other men lay dead. Why?