In the racially charged summer of 1963, Jamie Delacroix must choose between protecting a young girl and saving a black man's life.
A drifter who has spent the last decade running from commitments, southerner Jamie Delacroix finds himself stranded in a small Northern town where Calvin Lewis, an African-American musician, comes to Jamie’s aid. Calvin introduces him to Harry Novotny, a small-time gangster with a respectable business front; Harry’s bitter wife, Eve, who retains a friendship with Calvin since childhood; and Jane, the Novotnys’ bright, lonely 12-year-old.
As he wrestles with his past and his future, Jamie is grateful for the unlikely friendships he forms with Jane and Calvin—until he stumbles upon the black man’s illicit love affair with Eve. As racial tensions in the town build toward an explosion, Jamie's discovery threatens to destroy Jane's family and costs Calvin everything.