It is 1969, and Ruba has just moved to Mississippi from Haiti to live with her Grandmother Jones. This world is very different from her old life, where she spent days beachcombing with Ba, her maternal grandmother, and learning the lore of magic and history that Ruba holds close. But magic isn't welcome in this grandmother's house. Ruba struggles to understand her new surroundings and the hate that comes at her from some of the white people in town. It isn't long before Ruba finds herself threatened by the KKK and drawn into the fight for civil rights. But a hurricane barreling toward the coast changes everything? In the end, it brings Ruba and her family a measure of justice and new acceptance.