Maggie Blaine Smith once ran a rooming house that welcomed Òdown on their luckÓ boarders and people of all colors. With the boarding house located next to BlainetonÕs town square, the town folk labeled her as an eccentric do-gooder.
But now Maggie and friends have moved to the edge of town and into the spacious confines of Greybeal House, where Maggie is free to pursue her loving, welcoming lifestyle.
When Mary and Addie, two orphaned girls of color, show up, they are taken into the household. Upon learning that the girls need an education, Maggie and friend Emily try to enroll them in the townÕs school, only to learn that black pupils are no longer accepted. So, Maggie and Emily start a privately funded school for Mary and Addie and all of BlainetonÕs black children. Then word soon begins to spread about the school, talk morphs into resentment and anger, things rapidly spin out of control, and Maggie finds herself called upon to unite the town.