"Cassie Logan, first met in Song of the Trees and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, is a young woman now, searching for her place in the world, a journey that takes her from Toledo to California, to law school in Boston, and, ultimately, in the 60s, home to Mississippi to participate in voter registration. She is witness to the now-historic events of the century: the Great Migration north, the rise of the civil rights movement, preceded and precipitated...

After losing her mother and step-father in fatal accidents, Melody Logan is settling in with her East coast relations, when the appearance of her mother's picture in a catalog sends her back to California to seek her out.