When Lily first moves next door to Rose of Sharon in the all-white community of Prince George County, Alabama, it looks as though the two women have nothing in common. Lily is beautiful, the unhappy--and restless--wife of a man who politely refuses to join in with Rose of Sharon's husband and the other Klan members who carry on a tradition set by their daddies, and their daddies before them. Lily objects to the entrenched way of life her new neighbors seem so comfortable with--a way of life Rose became numb to a long time ago. But a brutal murder--and an impulse to better their own lives--set Rose and Lily off on an emotional journey of self-discovery that encompasses past and present and brings each of them face-to-face with frightening--and astounding--truths.