Tom Bridger, who is half Melungeon, left his small mountain community to escape the lingering prejudice against the mixed race group. Now, in the face of family tragedy, he has returned and taken on his father's job as a county sheriff's deputy. The bones of a Melungeon woman have surfaced and all evidence points to murder. The victim's poor family and the wealthy white family she married into scramble to protect their secrets from Tom's probing. Veterinarian Rachel Goddard, whom tom is falling in love with, puts herself in danger when she befriends the dead woman's niece.