By 1950, the Communist Party headquarters for both North and South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and part of Mississippi was located in Chapel Hill, even though communism was vigorously opposed by the University of North Carolina and by most of its students.

Patricia Basil, a clerk at the local bookstore, was swept away with the ideals and promises of communism. She became deeply involved in its spread throughout the South and eventually was hunted by the FBI. She was forced to leave Chapel Hill, and her family permanently banished her from returning to the family farm. As Patricia’s ideal world crumbled around her, she longed for the strength to abandon her naive dreams and find a way back home.

​Information gathered from the writings of FBI Agents, communist leaders, and historical documents were used to illustrate events and characters between 1946 and 1956. This story is a microcosm of that pivotal period in American history that has influenced our lives today.