Thirteen-year-old Billie Sims has seen the separate entrances for blacks and whites around her little town of Anniston, Alabama, her whole life. Her friend Jarmaine can't have a milk shake with her at Wikle's, but Billie doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. When she hears about a group calling themselves the Freedom Riders is passing through Anniston to protest segregation on buses, she thinks change might be coming. But when the town responds with violence, Billie finds herself watching a bus burn. Shocked by the actions of the people she thought she knew, she realizes freedom has a cost. But is she brave enough to stand up and fight for it?