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In the lage 1830s, the Mexican War is winding down, but tensions between the Texans and the Comanches threaten the fledgling Texas Republic. Towns are being raided and hundreds of murdered settlers litter the countryside. Sam Houston himself sends Isaac Webb on a mission of peace with Captain Noak Smithwick. Isaac, eager for a truce, longs for a simpler life with the woman he loves, but he knows that his future is clouded by bloodshed and violence.

In a small Alabama town in 1947-1956, Sonny searches for answers about his father's disappearance, "Uncle Marty," who looks after the family, and Mamby, their black housekeeper.

Easter is a devout Pentecostal, while Anneth is headstrong and restless. The two live in the heart of coal mining country, surrounded by the ghosts of their loved ones. One night, Easter meets El, the man that will become her husband. But their marriage drives a wedge between the sisters and soon Anneth heads to Nashville with a new husband of her own. As time passes, the two sisters struggle to forgive past transgressions, and love one another despite their differences.

It's 1983, and 17-year-old Edward Zanni wants to study acting at Juilliard, but his newly remarried father--who earns too much for Edward to claim scholarship money--refuses to pay. So, Edward enlists the aid of his creative theater pals to swindle the money from his father.

Clay Sizemore loves his home in Free Creek, but he longs for more. Since the death of his mother when he was four, he has felt the absence of family. His father left, and he has no siblings. But finally, through the love of others, he is able to create a place of his own.

Tony faces the daunting prospect of growing up amidst constant religious and cultural uncertainty. His mother is a devoted Catholic, but her influence is challenged by Ultima--a woman with magical healing powers. As Tony follows his own path toward adulthood, he relies on Ultima's wisdom. With her guidance, he is able to forge his unique identity.

Ten-year-old Vivien Leigh wants more than anything to understand the adult world. But when two black nuns come to teach at her all-white Catholic elementary school, everything begins to change. Her father leads a "Concerned Citizens" group aiming to replace the new nuns, and her mother's relationship with their black housekeeper deteriorates.

A lifestyle correspondent for a New York morning television program, Lucinda Trout is tired of reporting on thong underwear, so she heads to the Midwest. There she begins a series of dispatches called "The Quality of Life Report." The reports are intended to feed city slickers' appetites for anecdotes about a simpler life. But as Lucinda finds out, the heartland isn't quite the paradise it seems.

It was more than a century ago that Mark Twain left the notoriously violent Finn, Huckleberry Finn's father, dead, surrounded by such oddities as a wooden leg and women's undergarments. But just exactly how did Finn end up in that room? Clinch takes us on a journey through the mysterious life of an unusual man. Along the way, he introduces us to characters like the Judge--Finn's own frightening father--as well as Finn's sickly brother Will, the hermit Bliss, and former slave Mary, who becomes Finn's lover.

When Walter Burke's army buddy dies in a blood-soaked Vietnamese jungle, Walter finds himself writing a letter to the young man's parents. But as he struggles to put words on paper, all the trauma of his years growing up middle class and black in Birmingham, Alabama floods back into his mind.