In the year 1930, the community of Potluck, Louisiana was one of divided lines - not of black and white, but of the haves and the have-nots. Of the residents of Potluck was one Simone Tout, a young woman of twenty years born an only child to a father who started the town school and a mother, Berta, who was proudly employed as a cook in the mayor's kitchen. Two men - one you love, one you hate... Georges Andrieux, the handsome, well-educated son of the mayor, is a man that Simone despises - a man who is more than aggressive in his determination to make Simone his wife. Berta of course is thrilled, but against her mother's wishes the headstrong Simone has plans of her own in the form of Cotton Neal, a young man who Berta considers as nothing more than a common thug, jailbird, and bootlegger from the wrong side of the tracks. "Ain't nothing but a bunch of wild ass negros up in them hills..." But to Simone, Cotton is the air she breathes - her future husband and the love of her life. While Simone and Cotton prepare to run away together, the owner of a local opium den is found floating face down in the river. When Cotton is blamed for the murder he disappears, and while law enforcement work vigilantly to apprehend him, Simone is left to endure Georges' bitter, violent form of jealousy. When he threatens to reveal Cotton's whereabouts, Simone finally falls into his trap as he uses blackmail as a form of revenge. Toni... You run away only to have your car break down on the side of the road. You accidentally murder the mother of a good samaritan... The events that follow will change the lives of each woman forever.