East Texas, 1916 In the great mansions of Houston Avenue, Howbutker, live the to
wn's founding families: Toliver, Warwick and DuMont. Over generations they have
settled their differences by exchanging roses: a red rose to ask for forgiveness
and a white rose to accept. But when precocious teenager Mary Toliver inherits
cotton plantation Somerset from her father Vernon, the first seeds of discontent
are sown.