Karl was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to an alcoholic mother. His father was already dead from cirrhosis of the liver. Disillusioned and emotionally scarred from his mother's drinking, he leaves home at the tender age of eleven for life on the streets. After his second arrest at age fourteen, Karl is sent to a detention center to serve his time and ends up killing a fellow inmate in self-defense. When he is released from state custody, seventeen-year-old Karl meets a group of white supremacists, Soldiers of the Brigade, who accept him and make him feel like part of a family.

A native of Buffalo, New York, Elizabeth is a librarian at the Omaha Public Library. When Karl comes to the library looking for a racist book, she tries to gently guide him to see the error of his ways and the brainwashing that he has been exposed to. But can the kindness of this young, trusting, and open-minded librarian bring Karl back to his senses?

When Elizabeth invites Karl to a performance by a talented Jewish violinist, she may be inadvertently setting the stage for an attack orchestrated by the Soldiers of the Brigade, unless Karl can stop his racist brothers .