It s the middle of August in the country town of Barbour, South Carolina. The insects are swarming in the sweltering sun as the heat index and humidity reach a record high. However, the hottest thing in Barbour has nothing to do with the weather. It s the impending arrival of the descendants of Herschel and Mamie Anderson for their family reunion. Yvonne Anderson Allen will be returning home for the first time in years. She met her husband, Jimmy, a naval seaman, through an online dating service. The night she told him she was being released from her job as a cook at the state penitentiary, he sent her a plane ticket and they eloped to Las Vegas. Four years later, she is wrestling with God s nudging her to finally tell her husband that the reason she lost her job was because she was ending a ten-year stretch as an inmate.

Communicating with her cousin via letters while she was in jail was the catalyst that led Tanya Anderson to enter the police academy. One night she happened upon a woman being beaten, Yvonne yelled for the perpetrator to stop, but he pointed a gun at her. She fired once, killing him. It was the right thing to do; she followed proper procedure, and there was no way she could have known he was only fifteen years old. God has forgiven her, but can He help her find the way to forgive herself? Violet Anderson Green has always been the butt of jokes regarding the colors in her given name, which is Violet Indigo. Now she s married to a man named Hunter Green. She married a man who loves her dearly . who just happens to be white.

She wonders if her family will see him for the good Christian man he is. Alexandria Anderson Ponds married the perfect man and had two beautifully perfect children. Still, her hair is falling out and her skin is covered with marks from her constant scratching. Her life seems perfect to others, but God knows the truth behind her misery.".