In 1937, the Depression is in full force, Joe Louis is the new heavyweight champion of the world, and Champion Always Luther arrives in Snow Hill, Alabama, changing Brother Sayre's life forever. Brother lives with his mother and sister in their well-run if run-down boardinghouse. Champion has been sent to live with his aunt, who works for Brother's family. With Champion, Brother learns all sorts of things―that he enjoys fishing, that he needs glasses, and that there are subtle and powerful rules of race and power that he's never noticed. A child of privilege, Brother has never questioned the ways of his small southern town―but now he has reason to.

Sara Harrell Banks sets her dramatic story of an adolescent friendship during a troubled, complex time in history, when resources were scarce and segregation was firmly in place.