Milly is annoyed whenever her mom tells her to behave more appropriate for a girl. She's just not interested in fancy dresses or prom dances. Some day her best friend's little brother offers her a potion which can make her deepest wish come true during a solar eclipse. She goes through with it and ends up with male genitals, additionally. So she has to decide if she wants to life as boy or girl. Her father, who always wanted a son, supports her in checking out life as a boy. Hence Milly changes school and starts out as Willy.

Marvin, a heavy-drinking widower meets Tige, an 11-year-old orphan. With nowhere else to go, Tige moves in with Marvin and they develop a close friendship. Marvin wants to adopt Tige but knows that he is too poor to give him a good home. Then he discovers who Tige's father is a rich suburbanite who doesn't even know Tige exists. Should Marvin, and can he, give up the boy he loves, and who loves him, in favor of a stranger with the right genes and bank balance?

Wallace a wealthy landowner in Meriwether County, Georgia, has virtually unlimited power in the county, including having the sheriff under his control. When he murders a share cropper he thinks that he is powerful enough to get away with it. Because the act of murder took place in Coweta County, it is under the jurisdiction of the Coweta County sheriff who hunts the murderer without trepidation.