They call Eddie Miller 'The Coed Killer's Son', because when Eddie was five years old, his father killed a local college girl, dismembered her body, and buried the pieces in the woods. Where Eddie's family name has brought only infamy, Jack's has bestowed deference and respect. He's the last son of an Old South aristocratic family, returned to his hometown of Lakeland, Mississippi to teach. At the back of his class, sits Eddie. Where others see a withdrawn, lackluster teenager, Jack sees a young man of some promise, struggling with the deadweight of a poisonous inheritance. To exorcise the burden, Jack encourages Eddie to confront the past and discover the truth about his father. All of it. But the school principal, the police sheriff and even Jack's reclusive father would rather the past was left undisturbed. Jack's father was a teacher himself - he taught Eddie's father - and he knows that not all questions should be answered, no matter how heartfelt the question. Because the answer to a heartfelt question will always break your heart.