There's not much danger evident in Bob White, Oklahoma, in 1957. In a small town where doors are left unlocked at night, everyone knows your name, and alcohol is strictly forbidden, it's difficult even for a teenaged boy to get in trouble. But fifteen-year-old Mark Stoddard has his ways, and with the help of his best friend Ferret and Ferret's newly arrived tomboy cousin TJ, Mark is determined to spice up his summer, and win the respect of his older brother Jess, the local deputy sheriff, by catching a local bootlegger, an evil old man with a deadly grudge against Jess...and wielding a switchblade. When a man is murdered, and Jess looks like a suspect, Mark must catch the real killer and clear his brother's name, learning some hard truths in the process.