In Oak Knoll, a verdant, tight-knit North Carolina neighborhood, professor of forestry and ecology Valerie Alston-Holt is raising her bright and talented biracial son. Xavier is headed to college in the fall, and after years of single parenting, Valerie is facing the prospect of an empty nest. All is well until the Whitmans move in next door - an apparently traditional family with new money, ambition, and a secretly troubled teenaged daughter. Thanks to his thriving local business, Brad Whitman is something of a celebrity around town, and he's made a small fortune on his customer service and charm, while his wife, Julia, escaped her trailer park upbringing for the security of marriage and homemaking. Their new house is more than she ever imagined for herself, and who wouldn't want to live in Oak Knoll? But with little in common except a property line, these two very different families quickly find themselves at odds: first, over an historic oak tree in Valerie's yard, and soon after, t

"A gripping contemporary novel that examines the American dream through the lens of two families living side by side in an idyllic neighborhood, and the one summer that changes their lives irrevocably"--

"In North Carolina's tight-knit Oak Knoll neighborhood, professor Valerie Alston-Holt is raising her bright and talented biracial son, Xavier, who is headed to college in the fall. All is well until the Whitmans, an apparently traditional family, move in next door. Popular local businessman Brad had new money, ambition, a wife who escaped her upbringing in a trailer park, and a secretly troubled teenaged daughter. With little in common except a property line, these two very different families quickly find themselves at odds: first, over an historic oak tree in Valerie's yard, and soon after, the blossoming romance between their two teenagers"--Page 4 of cover

With little in common except a property line, two very different families quickly find themselves at odds: first, over an historic oak tree, and soon after, the blossoming romance between their two teenagers.