In a small American town still living in the shadow of a terrible coal mine accident, the disappearance of a teenage boy draws together a surviving miner, the lonely wife of a mine executive, and a local boy in a web of secrets.

A recent coal mining accident has killed several miners and left the small town community scarred and traumatized. The wealthy mining executive responsible for the accident, Bill Doyle, wants to pretend that it never happened, referring to the mining families as "trailer trash". His wife Diana and son JT know better, though. Diana is drowning in guilt and feels socially awkward around the other rich snobs she used to be friends with. She copes with it by having an affair with Amos, the lone survivor of the mining accident who now walks with a limp and lives with his dying father. JT is worried that his father will go to prison, and takes out his anger on the mining families' children, especially Owen Briggs. Owen is a young boy who lost his father in the disaster. He lives with his bad-tempered aunt, his grieving mother, and his little brother James, who has Down's Syndrome. One day Owen is in the woods with James, and he gets into a fight with JT, accidentally going too far...—Gasmaskproductionsbooks