The time and place is the early 1930's in rural Alabama. The sheriff has been murdered by unknown assailants. James Earl was the third sheriff in succession from the same family. It will be the first time in sixty years, one of the Earl men will not be in charge of law and order.
The man's only son is a teenager and after the funeral is told his family history through the eyes of an old mulatto, Ben Davis, who had been born into slavery and been involved with the family since he was six years old. It is a story of murder, moonshine, family feuds, romance, the Ku Klux Klan and rural prejudice. It is about one family in a difficult time and a hard place.