In the summer of 1958, Spooner Hays, teenage son of Ivory, king of the colored community, is face down on the courthouse lawn in Delta County, Texas, drowning in his own blood. His white friend, Gray Boy Rivers, is in a jail cell thirty yards away and four floors up. The two boys have worked and played together, but lived in separate worlds. King Ivory vows vengeance for his son"s life. District Attorney Buster Galt, fresh from Dallas successes as both prosecutor and defense lawyer, asks for patience, promising justice instead. Old wounds between Buster and Rance Rivers, Gray Boy"s father, have mostly healed until Buster accuses Gray Boy of Spooner"s murder.