In a time when it thought cross burnings and men in white hoods were a thing of the past, a small town confronts a kind of hate it thought had long since died out….


Shelby Lenoir Maynard, nicknamed Turtle, has never much trusted girls her own age, spending her days instead with her brother and his pack of friends. But when a mysterious Sri Lankan girl of Moorish descent moves to town in the summer of 1979, Turtle invites her to their secret haven: the Blue Hole. Turtle could not have imagined how much that simple gesture would affect the rest of her life, or the lives of those she loved.

As tensions rise, it becomes clear there are those in Pisgah Ridge who reject the presence of anyone different--and those who would welcome the new refugee family. In just one summer--in a collision of love, hate, jealousy, beauty and a muddy swimming hole--everything changes.