The novel takes place in the city of Alexandria, Mississippi, where, during the celebration of “Mother’s Day,” a little boy named Robin Clay-Dufresne is found hanged from a tree limb in the yard of his own home. Twelve years later, the mystery of Robin’s murder is still unresolved, and his family remains devastated by the bitter loss. Determined to find the killer is Robin’s sister Harriet—an astonishingly smart, strikingly resolute girl, strongly influenced by the works of R. Kipling and L. L. Stevenson. With the support of her close friend Healy, Harriet will upend the unshakable foundations of life itself and society, diving headfirst into the story of her family’s loss.