Daniel Musgrove's family moved to a small Mississippi town when he was in his junior year of high school. He and Tim, a fellow outsider, become fast friends. Together they negotiate the triumphs and tribulations of young manhood. When the first-ever black prom queen of Minot High School is hit by a car and emerges from a coma, believing she is white, Daniel and Tim find themselves caught up in a shocking chain of events leading to a shattering climax.