Pregnant and unmarried, Lila Wilson was run out of town 27 years ago under a dark cloud of moral indignation. She has since become a very wealthy, successful real estate developer in New York City. Now she has returned to the North Carolina farm where she was raised to seek revenge against the people who treated her so unkindly. Things are dire back home, economically, and Lila starts buying up homes and farms and turning out their inhabitants. Almost too late, she realizes that those who deserve payback are long in their graves, and that those who remain are innocent bystanders.