When country girl Tessa Jurgen learns that her bootlegging father has promised her in marriage to a man she doesn't love, she seeks refuge in the progressive boomtown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The year is 1921.

As governess to the children of an oil baron, Tessa is befriended by the black household servants, Chloe, Jasper and Pole. Together they become a family. But the handsome schoolteacher Gaven MacIntyre is also interested in forming a partnership with Tessa, despite his worry that she is "overly friendly" to black people.

Racial tensions remain at a simmer until Jasper and a friend are accused of "accosting" a white girl. Will Tessa stand up for what she knows is right, even if it means losing Gaven? Or will she be drawn into Tulsa's tempest of prejudice and hatred?