Gordon Halt, a privileged son of the Deep South, disappointed his progressive father when he joined the campaign of a segregationist governor for U. S. President in the 1960’s. Gordon Halt denied he was a racist; he had only wanted to “rein-in” the worst impulses of the governor’s followers while helping the South gain respect from the rest of the nation. But in 1999, the former governor lies near death and a newspaper reporter, who knows nothing of the South, asks Gordon’s help to explain this exotic land, and the workings of that long-ago campaign. Later she uncovers evidence of present-day racism, and a shocking act of violence that forces Gordon to question the ideas he gave his life to.