The sins of the fathers. In a town near Little Rock, Lucy Fowler works hard for a construction firm; on weekends she drinks, goes home with someone, and come early morning, wakes and leaves as fast as she can. She cares a lot about her father, newly back in town, a painfully shy man who has nothing to say to her. She does go to a Holy Roller church with him about the same time that she starts, fitfully, a relationship with Cal Percell, new in town and a good guy. She kisses him sober, but still has demons to confront. What's the source of her careless ways; can she turn coal into a diamond?