Tucked in the pine-covered hills of the rural South lie two small towns and two feuding families divided by a dirty river and a mutual desire: to reign supreme in the land of drug lords. Eighteen-year-old Rue Monroe has no interest in her family's drug business. Thanks to the heartbreaking loss of her father and the abrupt abandonment of her mother, Rue's left alone to care for her flighty little sister and make sure the bills get paid on time. Life can't get any more complicated. That is, until Rue is reunited with Tanner Montgomery, the son of her family's sworn enemy. Threatened by her own kin, Rue tries to fight her attraction for the boy she first met at the age of twelve, but Tanner doesn't give in so easily. Tanner's tireless persistence forces Rue to question everything she thought she knew about the Montgomery family. The two work together, unearthing old family secrets-secrets which might get them both killed.