On the North Side in December of 1968, Cassandra Perry feels stifled by her doting granduncle and grandaunt, Woody and Ivy, and longs for a change. She moves into a multiracial commune for free spirits working for the good of humankind. But then something unfathomable happens: the commune is rocked by the discovery of two well-liked activists' mutilated bodies. With Woodie and Ivy backing her up, Cassandra begins to investigate only to find herself falling into the trap of the deadly, political hatchet man.