September 1952. The cotton is almost ready in the fields of Arkansas. The harvest will soon begin. Luke Chandler is a seven-year-old who lives with his family in a small, unpainted house on rented land. In the next six weeks, the Chandlers and a hired band of hill people and Mexicans must bring in the cotton that is their livelihood and the guarantee of their survival on the land.

Soon heat, rain, fatigue, a killing and the unraveling of a family secret threaten to destroy the Chandler’s hopes and will transport Luke abruptly from childhood innocence to experience.