This 9-year old girl s family owns land, which was not very common for a black family. The family bought the land during the Reconstruction period after the Civil War from the Grangers, who attempted to get the land back anyway they can. When T.J. Avery is involved in a robbery that leads to a murder, he is hunted down. David Logan, Cassie s father, can only think of one way to prevent T.J. s lynching. To save the Grangers adjoining property to the Logan land, the white men join efforts with the Logans to fight the fire that threatens to take all the trees and crops.
Cassie is never the same.
She can t claim the innocence that she once knew. This story shows the racial tension during 1933 in America. Slavery was gone, but segregation was still active. Even though terms are used in this book that are not politically correct, this book depicts this era very well. She then decided to return to the States in order to recruit for the Peace Corp, and also to pursue her Masters degree in journalism at the University of Colorado.