The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Everhart, Donna. The Saints of Swallow Hill. Kensington Publishing Corp., 2022.

Set in the midst of the Great Depression, Donna Everhart's novel The Saints of Swallow Hill is written from the third person limited point of view, and traces the lives of protagonists Del Reese and Rae Lynn Cobb. The narrative toys with formal conventions throughout, alternating between episodes from Del's storyline and those from Rae Lynn's storyline. The following summary assumes a more streamlined mode of explanation for the sake of clarity.

Del Reese was working on a farm in Clinch County, Georgia. One day, his boss Moe caught Del having sex with his wife Myra. Shortly thereafter, Moe tried to kill Del and make it look like an accident. During the near-death experience, Del's spirit left his body and granted him perspective. In the wake of the incident, Del realized he had to leave Moe's operation. He had heard there was work at Swallow Hill and headed in the direction of the turpentine camp.

Meanwhile, Rae Lynn Cobb was living with her husband Warren in Harnett County, North Carolina. Seven years into their marriage Warren suffered an accident and sustained internal injuries. Warren was in so much pain that he begged Rae Lynn to put him out of his misery the way he had recently done for their dog. Rae Lynn refused. However, Warren soon tried to shoot himself and failed. Rae Lynn had no choice but to finish the job. Almost immediately after firing the second shot, she turned to see Warren's friend Butch regarding her with horror.

When Butch threatened to report Rae Lynn for murder if she did not marry him, Rae Lynn disguised herself as a man and fled her home. She drove to Swallow Hill, convinced that the turpentine camp might afford her a new life and an escape from her past.

For several weeks, Rae Lynn successfully convinced the turpentine camp that she was a young man named Ray Cobb. Then one day, one of the camp's brutal bosses, locked her in a coffin-sized sweatbox for failing to meet her daily quota. Three days later, when Del rescued her from the box, he realized that Ray Cobb was not who he said he was. Indeed, the bloodstain on Rae Lynn's crotch revealed that she was in fact a woman.

Cornelia Riddle, the woman who ran the commissary with her abusive husband Otis, nursed Rae Lynn back to health. After Rae Lynn recovered, Cornelia insisted that she stay on at the camp as her assistant. Over the course of the following weeks, the women developed a kinship one with another.

Meanwhile, Del started to develop feelings for Rae Lynn. Indeed, the more he thought about her, the more he began to define his future by her. However, he had no idea if she felt the same way.

Rae Lynn, Cornelia, and Del eventually decided to leave Swallow Hill. Cornelia heard that Rae Lynn and Del were departing. She needed to get away from her husband's violence, and joined them. Del invited the women to accompany him to his sister Sudie May's farm in North Carolina.

Rae Lynn was initially afraid to return to the region where she had formerly lived. However, life at Sudie May's soon granted her a sense of peace. Over time, she fell in love with Del. They began a turpentining operation of their own on Del's family farm. Then they married and had children. Cornelia remained an important part of their lives, and Rae Lynn regarded her as a sister. Del felt the happiest he had ever felt in his life.