Seven-year-old Tobia Caldwell is the last in a line of proud, Southern aristocrats. As his parents struggle to oust neighbors from what was once Caldwell land, Tobia fights to keep intruders away from what he considers his creek. So when boy-and-girl twins Ben and Merritt move in on his turf, Tobia takes drastic measures-and leads Ben to a deadly snake. What was once a little boy's revenge turns into a guilty secret that nags at Tobia for years. But when, as a young man, he falls hard for Ben's surviving sister, that secret might be too much to bear.