Is there a relationship between equity and excellence in the schools of today? Does there exist a gulf between what the wealthy schools and the poor schools can do for their students? And what of the students who attend the poor schools? Do they notice the discrepancies? Do they care? In this ethnographic fiction, the author examines these issues as she weaves the stories of two lives into one. In 1950, Gideon, the son of a Black sharecropper, and Lou, the daughter of a White rancher, meet and develop a friendship that spans their differences and their lifetimes. As they try to make sense of the events of their world, and as they struggle to deal with the injustices before them in their own way, they humanize an impersonal dicotomy. And they are one.