"It's been two years since Jessilyn Lassiter last looked evil in the eye, but she knew better than to think it was gone for good. At nearly nineteen, Jessilyn is more in love with Luke Talley than ever, and he is finally beginning to care for her in the way she always dreamed he would. But their romance is interrupted when Tal Pritchett--a young black doctor--comes to Calloway, stealing the heart of Jessilyn's best friend, Gemma, and stirring up the racial prejudice that has been simmering just beneath the surface. The tension escalates when Miss Cleta, Jessilyn's neighbor becomes the first white townsperson to accept Tal's treatment, an offense that quickly leads to violence at the hands of the revived Ku Klux Klan. As Jessilyn dreams of vengeance, she begins to realize that in order to bring true peace, she'll have to win the battle that's waging in her own heart first" --Cover, p. 4.