Amid the haunting landscape of the southern Appalachians lingers a small mountain hamlet laden with a history of open secrets and scandalous reputations. T-bird is an only child living with his deteriorating mother and gripped with despair after his father's sudden passing. He resolves to exceed his lot and rejoin his peers going out for the football team his freshman year of high school. Among a cast of characters that become like a surrogate family, he slowly rekindles a glimmer of self-assurance. But a depraved personality threatens the community with a keen eye for the vulnerable young. What happens when T-bird is exposed to the predatory intentions of a wolf in sheep's clothing imperiling him and his friends...? Summer, beauty, passing days and passing summer nights, stars fading and all exultant youth born, dying, lost...in the tangled vine and thick bower of the serpent's lair...