When Liz Hoole, a free-spirited liberal from the Midwest, marries into a conservative Quaker family in a small rural town in North Carolina, she knew it would be a delicate task to negotiate the raising of her four boys in compliance with Quaker values but as much as she tries, she always seems to fall short of expectations. After Judge Corbett Kendall, the politically powerful father of her best friend, dies, Liz stumbles upon secrets from the past that threaten to unravel the delicate fabric of racial harmony in an easily-divided town. Whether examining the history of Cottonwoods Plantation or eavesdropping on the latest gossip at the local Quaker Café, she finds herself burdened with the truth of an injustice that she cannot reveal, even to her own husband.