1954. Determined to follow in her physician father's footsteps, recent college graduate Lucia Lafleur is crushed when her fiance issues an ultimatum: forego medical school or forego marriage. Returning home to Louisiana for the summer, she agonizes over her choice.

Yet when Lucia unexpectedly befriends Nicholas, a dark-skinned poet whose dignity and intellect are a salve to her aching heart, everything changes. Their bond, initially forged from a shared love of literature, soon blossoms into something as bewitching as it is forbidden.

When a trivial misunderstanding between a local white woman and a black man results in a brutal lynching, the peril of love across the color lines becomes chillingly real. Now, fulfilling her lifelong dream means relinquishing her heart—and escaping Louisiana alive.