World War II was over, and it was a time when Southern California enjoyed prosperity. Lynn Horvath was ten-years-old. But in spite of movies, parties, and good friends, she must confront the brutal death of a woman she and her friends had loved. The novel, Acts of Kindness, Acts of Contrition, begins with the murder of Jeanne French in 1947 and describes the long-lasting effects of that murder on ten-year-old Lynn Horvath as she becomes an adult. As Lynn and her friends become women, the novel reveals the quiet heroism in ordinary lives and explores the radical changes that took place in American society between the 1940s and the present time.