When Colletta and Jimmie witness the brutal killing of a playmate's father in a domestic quarrel, the innocence of childhood is lost forever. Little do they realize that the repercussions will follow them into adulthood. Jimmie is left with a sense of helplessness and an unwitting habit of taking the easy way out, while Colletta finds solace in pain-killing drugs. Still, the love between these childhood sweethearts surely is forever. Through a series of unplanned events, the unbreakable bonds among the enduring team of pals in which they're joined by DJ and Ray-Gene are strained almost beyond endurance. But DJ and Ray-Gene love Colletta, too, as friends, and the three boys dedicate themselves to protecting her from harm. This is not always easy, given that poverty, racism, alcohol and drugs are common elements in their small-town South Carolina surroundings. And when Colletta needs him most, Jimmie is unable to face their painful circumstances. He seeks refuge as an Army paratrooper ready for service in Iraq. A training accident leaves him seriously injured and suddenly Colletta is back in his life, so that his ordered military existence and the thrill of the jump no longer insulate him from his troubled past. Meanwhile, he faces the added complication of being caught in the middle of a mysterious and dangerous conflict between two superiors that places him in a vulnerable position which feels all too familiar. No longer the "good soldier" who follows orders without question, he comes to renounce war and knows that he can never again follow orders blindly. The Army life can no longer be his life. But what else can he do? Now it is Colletta who's strong in Jimmie's time of need. He wants to reconcile and learn to love her child, to settle into a peaceful domestic existence. But Colletta is afraid. Will he run away again? Are both their earlier failures too much to overcome? Could they ever make a life together? And why does her child look so much like Ray-Gene?