New Hope, Georgia, seems to be a model for the traditional American small town. The townsfolk spend their summers cheering on their favorite softball team. Players on the high school football team are treated like heroes, and the town goes wild for the annual Christmas parade.

Like any small town, New Hope has its share of gossips and storytellers, eager to pry into other people's business and-if needed-tarnish the truth for a juicy story. In a town this small, no secret remains hidden long-or so the townsfolk think.

For decades Charles and Gloria Baxley hid their terrible transgression with cunning secrecy. Keeping the truth from their fellow townsfolk has been a monumental achievement. Even their four children have no inkling of their parents' crimes.

Secrecy, however, only buries sin-and the Baxley's transgression remains, fermenting in its own hate. A surprise guest at the Thanksgiving table is the first innocuous hint that Charles and Gloria's past is returning to haunt them. What follows will tear the veneer of respectability from the Baxley marriage and exact a terrible price for past deeds. All will be affected, but not everyone will survive the outpouring of Fermented Sin.