Cotton Mathis is a young man alone in the world. Devastated after the loss of his mother, the young farmhand must deal with the death of his brother in Vietman and his alcholic father's suicide. Isolated and angry, Cotton wrestles his demons, including the suspicion his brother--lauded as a war hero--might actually have been a coward. With little thought of consequence, Cotton joins the National Guard to avoid serving in Vietnam and is plunged into the midst of the civil rights movement. Sixty miles away the, Martin Luther King, Jr. face off against the Memphis mayor. When Cotton's unit is deployed to Memphis to control rioting he and his friends naively sense only excitment with no understanding for the racial tensions raging across the nation. Once in the city, Cotton encounters a black war hero and the soldier's remarkable. book-loving father-a man who reignties Cotton's long-buried dreams. Yet these new friend harbor secrets about Cotton's family, including the true story of his brother's death. Faced with personal tragedy, betrayal, and overwhelming anger in the aftermath of Dr. King's assassination, Cotton faces a life-changing decison. Will he forgive and move on, or will he allow his family's ghosts to haunt him forever?