Adjusting to the sweltering heat of the Mississippi Delta is the least of Teri's troubles. Dragged there by her mother's ill-advised search for career development, she must now drudge her way through a new school, the constant tension between her parents, and the duplicitous nature of teenagers and adults alike. But then she meets a strange boy at school, Nother Martin, and as their relationship develops she is drawn into a world of moonshine and roadhouses, fortune tellers and grizzled Blues legends. In contrast to her own tangled relationships, she finds comfort in Nother's strong family bonds and his roots in the depthless South. As Teri learns about bad behavior and untimely death, she discovers a better, wiser version of herself.
