Catherine "Kya" Clarke is an endlessly resourceful young girl who grows up in a North Carolina marsh. Abandoned by her parents and older siblings in the early 1950s, Kya learns to survive on her own. She is taught to read and write by her friend Tate Walker and falls for him, but is left behind once again when he goes to college. Chase Andrews is a quarterback who draws Kya into a tryst with promises of marriage that never materialize. After Kya ends their relationship, Chase attacks her and she narrowly escapes. Then, while she is away, Chase is found dead and Kya is engulfed in a murder trial, with the evidence against her seeming insurmountable.