Fifteen-year-old Theresa Williams has just settled under the oak tree in her front yard to read a book when she notices the boot dangling at eye-level. She knows immediately who the dead man is, hanging in the heavy foliage of the family oak tree. That is, she knows Lawrence’s name, his deep unhappiness, and how he came to live with her and her mother Maxine, a woman who rages at him constantly, inexplicably. But Theresa will learn the truth about Lawrence, when the turmoil that surrounds the mother and daughter explodes.