Racial tension, a forbidden love affair, and murder are seen through the eyes of a seven-year-old boy in a 1950s Southern cotton-farming community.

Read about the importance of cotton in America's history and learn about the lives of people who picked it and worked with it

Industrial agriculture is forcing many small farmers to lose their land due to rising debt. When India had to open its doors to foreign seed vendors such as Monsanto, genetically altered cotton seed was all that was available. These seeds are more expensive, require irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides, and must be re-purchased every season, driving the small farmer into spiraling debt and ultimately suicide.