The past doesn’t always stay buried—some stories are too tragic to be forgotten, and sometimes they come back to haunt us. For sixteen-year-old Violet Lagrone, the war of secession was not simply about the political ideals that divided the North and the South, or what the loss of slavery would cost the southern economy. It was also about devastating personal loss and unbearable pain. She documents what she endured through diary entries penned between 1860 and 1864. In August of 1864, after the tragic deaths of those she loves, Violet chooses to end her life, but she carries with her a heartbreaking secret and her spirit is unable to rest, haunting the old southern mansion where she died. Fast forward to 1977. Seventeen-year-old Danni Lynn Harper and her mother, Allison, leave their home in California and move to Mississippi for a fresh start. They take up residence in the old mansion inhabited by Violet’s ghost, and as Danni and Allison begin to make a new life for themselves, Violet decides it’s time for the truth to be known.