Channing Allen

In the all-white town of Sardis, Alabama, during the civil rights era, Ruth Clayton has a dangerous secret to keep. She is pregnant—and the baby is half black. Upon her child's birth, her brother drives her from Sardis with intentions to do away with her son. But he has a change of heart, and decides to raise the boy in the very town that wants him dead.

"Wells Without Water" chronicles the turbulent coming of age of Ruth's son, Theodore Clayton, and the one boy in town who dares to befriend him: Caleb Frost, the troubled son of a prostitute and a fugitive.

Though Caleb has no friends himself, his relationship with Theodore comes at a great cost. No longer just ignored by the other children, he becomes the target of bitter and tireless persecution. In a cyclone of public and personal hysteria which leads him to question his values, his loyalties, and even his faith in God, he is forced by the people of Sardis to choose sides.

But when Ruth Clayton returns to town, she has different ideas for her son.