The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Cash, Wiley. When Ghosts Come Home. Faber & Faber, 2021.

When Ghosts Come Home takes place over four days in 1984, from October 30 (Tuesday) to November 2 (Friday). The novel’s progression is broadly linear, but there is overlap between chapters as they focus alternately on the experiences of Winston or Colleen. Chapters 4 and 6 follow Jay instead.

Sheriff Winston Barnes went to investigate a nocturnal plane crash at the airport near his home. Next to the empty plane, he found the body of Rodney Bellamy, a young Black man who had gone to the store to buy diapers for his newborn son. Winston and his team supposed that the plane had been carrying drugs. No one could explain why Rodney was there or why he had been shot to death, but rumors began circulating about his involvement in crime. Bradley Frye, a local property developer who was hoping to replace Winston as sheriff, was foremost in maligning Rodney and stoking up hostility towards the Black community. Winston knew that success or failure in handling this case could determine his fate in the upcoming election. His frustration grew as the FBI (along with the press, Frye, Rodney’s father, Winston’s staff and even his own wife) increasingly undermined his role and weakened his authority.

Meanwhile, Winston’s grieving daughter Colleen had come to stay with her parents. Her relationship with her husband had deteriorated since the stillbirth of their child, and she needed a change of scene. Jay was also in the area for a change of scene. His parents had sent him to stay with his older sister Janelle (Rodney’s wife) to keep him out of trouble, after a family friend caught him stealing. Before Rodney’s murder, Bradley Frye had threatened Jay and warned him to stay away from his land. The night after the murder, Frye led a group of thugs to Janelle’s house, where they smashed a window, fired shots and told the family to leave town.

Tom Groom, an FBI agent with flying experience, came to help move the aircraft from its awkward position on the runway. He stayed in the Barnes’ home while fixing the damaged plane, and Colleen found his behavior suspicious. Rodney’s father, Ed Bellamy, told Winston about Frye’s acts of aggression and the inadequate police response. Winston fired his deputy (Englehart) for insulting Ed, but he could take no action against Frye. That night, a fire broke out in a vacant property in Plantation Cove, the site that Frye was developing. The following night it happened again, but Englehart was keeping guard on Frye’s orders. Winston arrived in time to arrest the arsonist (Jay). Frye showed up in a violent rage, but a mysterious sniper shot him dead before he could kill Jay or Winston. Ed convinced Winston to turn a blind eye to the crimes of both Jay and Frye’s killer. In the house that Jay had set fire to, Winston found the cocaine from the aircraft along with fingerprints and other evidence, incriminating Frye.

When Winston told Groom about his breakthrough, Groom offered to fly him to the FBI’s field office, in the newly-restored airplane. Colleen went to meet Winston there, but the plane never reached its destination. It later turned out that Groom had not been acting on behalf of the FBI. He killed Winston then vanished without trace – along with the plane, and the evidence that Winston had been carrying.