Libertytown is a small city in south Alabama. As is the case with many small cities in Alabama, if not the South in general, Libertytown is controlled by a handful of prominent families who have held onto and exercised that control for generations. Melanie and Beth, two lovely and cultured young ladies known in the community as the "Moore Sisters," are members of one of those families, and each has married into another. As part of their effort to keep up with everything that happens in Libertytown, the sisters become curious about the lives of Leland and Diane Johnson, an unassuming young working-class couple who live in a rented trailer on the outskirts of town. This story covers the period of 1990 through 1996 during which the Moores' curiosity gradually turns into lingering resentment as the sisters are witness to the steady ascent of Leland and Diane into a prominence that threatens to transcend even their own.