[1] The story is set in the early 1960s and makes observations about changes in America at that time, with particular emphasis on the Civil Rights Movement.
Several of the characters are connected to the Ku Klux Klan, and the segregation of the black community is dealt with in some detail.
The story begins as Cory's father, Tom, takes Cory on his daily milk route one morning, and while driving by Saxon's Lake (an old quarry filled with water) he watches a car drive straight into the lake and sink to the bottom with a dead man inside, beaten viciously, and his only identification is a tattoo of a skull with wings sprouting from the head.
Tom jumps in and tries to save the driver of the car, only to discover that the man is actually a murder victim, handcuffed to the steering wheel.
Cory is a writer and throughout the book he writes many stories, and goes on many adventures in his hometown including helping a young boy through a flood, facing the town beast, spending a horrid week with his grandfather, exposing two KKK members, thwarting a racist plot, letting loose an abused rhinoceros, and witnessing a gunfight against the town mob.
In the end it is a German Nazi, an escaped war criminal, who posed as the town veterinarian and had recently took care of Cory's dog Rebel, who eventually died.
His troubles begin when he witnesses a murder, the only clue being a green feather he finds at the scene, and a person he sees in the shadows.
Tom Mackenson— Cory's father, a quiet and kind-hearted man, who loses his job as a milkman and has to work at a super market.
His one desire in life is peace from his nightmares and thoughts, from which he can't escape after witnessing a murder, seemingly an unsolvable one.
Davy Ray Callan— Cory's hot-headed, sarcastic friend who dies towards the end of the story by shooting himself accidentally.
Johnny Wilson— A soft-spoken, part-Native American friend of Cory's who gets a severe concussion when fighting with the Branlin brothers, the local bullies.
In the final chapter, it is revealed that his real name is Gunther Dahninaderke and he is actually a former Nazi, who was the doctor of Esterwegen concentration camp in World War II.
He is good-hearted in general, coercing even the most racist people in Zephyr to help build a dam in Bruton, the place where all the black citizens live, against a coming flood.
Ironically, he is caught under a bomb that is mysteriously, "mistakenly" dropped in Zephyr on Christmas Eve, and which Cory attributes to the Lady's supernatural power.
The Demon— A girl in Cory's class who disgusts the other students with her nose-picking, etc., but wins their respect at the end when she glues Leatherlungs, their tyrannical teacher, to her chair.
He gives a sermon saying that their music is from the devil, is trying to make children sexually crazed, and encourages delinquents.
His mother forbids him from playing sports due to his illness, but he actually reveals himself to be a talented pitcher, not only nailing one of the Branlin boys with an incredible fastball, but also throwing a ball so high in the air that it appears to enter orbit.
While his claims are considered to be false, he demonstrates expert gunslinging ability during a shootout at the gas station with the Blaylocks.