Deserted by her mother and raised by her whiskey-drinking, gun-shooting father, Haley Ellyson hides two explosive secrets that both empower her and threaten to undermine everything she cherishes. Having already broken the heart of every boy in Houser Banks, Mississippi, Haley is engaged in a dangerous flirtation with her father's best friend when Fletcher Greel, the judge's son, comes home for the summer, fresh out of a New England prep school. Fletcher's friend Riley is in love with Crystal, a blues-singing black girl, and Fletcher falls instantly for Haley. The four soon become inseparable, but as summer wanes, local disapproval of Riley and Crystal's romance takes violent turns, and Haley's secrets surface to devastating results. A pitch-perfect first novel rich with unforgettable characters, mesmerizing prose, and smoldering sexual tension, captures the exhilaration of first love and the consequences of rebellion in a place resistant to change.