The Chinaberry Album tells a genteel coming of age story set during World War II in a once-sleepy town on Florida's Gulf Coast. Anna Lee Owens, the young daughter of a deputy sheriff, begins to realize that there are disturbing secrets in her family, that her quiet hometown runs by unspoken rules, and that often the smartest thing to do is to listen to your instincts.

Bay Harbor wasn't a picture postcard town. The war was an awkward memory, its trenches returning some to the small Florida gulfport, though not the men they used to be. What Bay Harbor's residents hadn't expected was the change and tragedy the soldiers would bring home. No one loved Bay Harbor more than twelve year old Anna Lee Owens, daughter of the deputy sheriff. A livewire too observant of Bay Harbor's secrets, she indulged in death tours, dreamed of lighthouses, and worshiped the tragic Tyler Rose. She played rascal with Tyler's cousin T. J. at his father's funeral home, and longed for the grace of the mercurial Lola. Among the tide of soldiers and unexpected travellers, Anna Lee's youth teeters precariously; Hilton Fields returns to Bay Harbor. Her father's best friend, he ignites cataclysmic changes leading to an act of heartbreaking betrayal that changes the course of their lives forever.