In a nationally televised event that, like everything else in his life, is precisely orchestrated by agent and money manager Gordon Stanley, Jack's return is to dedicate Black Jack Field, the two-million dollar ballpark he has donated to his hometown. He arrives in a white stretch limo, glamorous girlfriend at his side and the world at his feet, but he is stung by a spate of bad memories of his boyhood, most pungent ofwhich is that of Cyrus Coles, his fat black battery mate whose ingenious insights had quietly turned Jack into a great disciplined pitcher. Typically now, when Jack throws out the ceremonial first pitch to his father, heroic Vietnam war veteran, spit-and-polish sheriff of Gandee, everyone believes him to be the reason for his son's success.

Then Jack confronts Cyrus's murdered body, blown away by a shotgun blast. He has to face the fury of Cyrus's widow, Ruby, and, most provocative of all, an outspoken woman named Foxx, who makes him aware that he's been living a lie.

Jack flees this unsettling scene with his girlfriend for the pleasures of New York City -- until he learns that, back in Gandee, his father has arrested Ruby for the murder of her husband. To everyone's astonishment, Jack returns to Gandee to help her. With Foxx now an ally, he sees his hometown for its corrupt racist traditions, bringing on a newunderstanding of himself that leads him to risk everything to probe an intolerable truth.