The small town of Morgan Hill, Tennessee, is turned upside down in 1947 when the Turners become the only black family ever to move into the area. Nine-year-old Jane Gable first lays eyes on young Milo Turner the day that her trouble-making, alcoholic father is buried in the Morgan Falls cemetery. When the Turners begin work as sharecroppers on a local tobacco farm, their presence challenges the comfort of many in the close-knit town and Jane leans heavily on her best friend, 53-year-old general store owner Henry Walker, for guidance. Then, tragedy strikes the Turner household. Jane, her mother Fran (already pregnant with another mouth to feed), and younger brother John find themselves torn between the people they've lived with all their lives and a dying request from 6-year-old Milo Turner's mother that nearly rips their world apart.