When the Civil Rights Act is signed in 1964, it rocks the Deep South of America and sets in motion a series of catastrophic events. Racial hatred explodes, and many innocent black Americans are beaten or even killed. In South Carolina, a black housekeeper named Rosaleen Daily sees it as freedom of expression and recognition of equality for black Americans. For Lily Melissa Owens, a white fourteen-year-old American, it means watching those she loves be persecuted and allowing injustice to punish the only person she cares about, Rosaleen, her housekeeper.

As Rosaleen and Lily head into Sylvan, South Carolina, they encounter white men with a racial vendetta, landing Rosaleen in prison where she is brutally beaten. Lily, realizing that nobody is prepared to help Rosaleen accept her, refuses to stand idle and watch white men intimidate and ridicule her substitute mother. Lily rescues Rosaleen from torment and...