"The bell tower in distant Belchertown chimed. Its drone blessed the sad wasteland, the frail houses like ours that lined shoulder-to-shoulder along the banks of a mill stream too small for transport or dreams. The local roads, too, teased us with possibility … they offered the hall of mirrors shown by other mill towns with their chins pointed to the stream banks and their backs cordoned by foothills."

During the late Sixties and early Seventies, the Buchanan twins struggle against the bleak reality of small-town existence. Melody Buchanan bristles at the rules imposed on her. She excels at baseball, but she is not allowed to play, not before Title 9, not before she first wrestles with her place as a young woman. Artie seeks his own code of existence and finds peace until an act of violence leaves him a lonely outcast.

Their bond as twins endures the fiery destruction of their home, the alienation of their mother, and the insane excesses of their father. Only a Jamaican-born woodsman, Samuels, offers refuge and enlightenment. When he vanishes and family support crumbles, the twins must make brave decisions about the trajectory of their lives.