In this fifth and final title in the popular Bakers Mountain Stories, the Honeycutt family are wrestling with monumental changes taking place at the end of 1959. The world is at odds with the Soviet Union, and the Honeycutts are worried about the threat of communism. Unrest is also erupting throughout the country and close to home as African Americans fight for acceptance and equality. The youngest Honeycutt, Jackie, absorbs all these changes and tries to find his way to what he believes is right. Jackie's journey begins when he bumps into Thomas Freeman fishing on the riverbank. He hopes the two of them can be friends, but he quickly learns that racial inequalities and Jackie's own behaviors make the prospect of friendship challenging. Amid community pushback to racial integration, bullying at school, and turmoil within his family, Jackie struggles to free both his conscience and his voice and to secure his friendship with Thomas.