A Peach For Big Jim

1947 - In the Lowcountry swamps of South Carolina Chloe Mason knows not to go near the Negroes who live in the river shacks especially sixteen-year-old Big Jim. Hes something of a myth a big black boy known for eating opossums and howling at the moon. At least thats what Chloes brother Caleb and her Pa a fiddle-playing Southerner who waves a Confederate flag tell her. Yet when Chloe falls into Foxhole Swamp its Big Jim who saves her from an alligator. She secretly befriends Big Jim and takes it upon herself to teach him to read even bringing him a forbidden peach from Widow Jones tree. Chloe meets Big Jim in a tree fort he constructs in the woods and together they endure the injustices Big Jim suffers - like being whipped by Chloes father for trespassing. But once her father discovers their secret meetings and is ready to lynch Big Jim Chloes loyalty is tested to the breaking point calling into question everything shes come to believe about herself her family and what truly matters most.