After the death of his older brother in Iraq, Emmett Callaghan's mother cracked under the stress and abandoned the family-saddling sixteen-year-old Emmett with the care of a father suffering from worsening dementia. Poor in a town where the lines between the privileged and the struggling are sharp and unmovable, Emmett has nowhere to turn, and he cannot let the authorities know his mother is no longer in the picture. Then a light shines into his bleak life with the arrival of Noah Davis. Mixed race, liberal, worldly, and openly gay, Noah is like no one else in conservative Whitmore-and like no one Emmett's ever met. Emmett is helpless to keep Noah and the happiness and support he offers out of Emmett's dark and hidden world. But when secrets start to surface, will the obstacles the two young men face be more than love and good intentions can overcome?