The small town of Elderberry, Georgia, has exciting plans for the War Bond Rally which will feature a parade followed by a pageant at the local high school; and, like everyone else, the town’s beloved first grade teacher, Miss Dimple Kilpatrick, is caught up in the enthusiasm. Her close friend, Virginia Balliew, the town librarian, has agreed to chair the big event and has reluctantly agreed to take on Emmaline Brumlow’s ne’er-do-well nephew, Buddy, to help out.

In September, 1943, the country is winding up its second full year in a war against the Axis which includes Germany, Japan, and Italy, and although the new Italian government had finally surrendered to British and American troops a couple of weeks before, German troops still occupy Rome.

Matters are complicated, however, when children, dismissed from school to help pick cotton, discover a skeleton, exposed by recent rains, at the edge of a field. Not long after this Virginia and the entire community are shocked and disheartened when Buddy Oglesby disappears along with the money he was delegated to take to the bank.