One fateful summer day, while Paul and Little Mole shoot marbles, Shadrach, a 99-yearold former slave, appears in the Dabneys’ yard. He has walked from Alabama in order to die and be buried on the plantation where he was born into slavery, the plantation owned by Dabney ancestors. It is his only wish – and his right, as he feels he is a Dabney, too. For Vernon Dabney – proud, pragmatic and emotionally explosive – Shadrach’s sudden claim of Dabney kinship doesn’t go down easily. He is neither psychologically nor economically equipped to grant the old man’s wish, and he is furious with his family’s unqualified, immediate embrace of Shadrach.

Ultimately, an unhappy Vernon is forced by his family to honor Shadrach’s wishes, which makes for a hilarious, heartbreaking expedition to the dilapidated plantation. At the plantation, Shadrach’s desire to be buried on Dabney soil becomes even more problematic when Vernon learns that interment on private property is in violation of Virginia law.

Ultimately, Vernon Dabney triumphs over the law – and his own racism and poverty – to return Shadrach to his birthplace. And Paul, through the wise eyes of this frail former slave, is given insight into the limitless potential of compassion and the profound impact of charity.