Set during the sticky-hot summer of 1968 - a year in American history marked by assassinations, Vietnam War protests and civil rights rioting - "Flying South" tells the coming-of-age story of Alice, who faces some trying concerns of her own. She longs for a connection with her mother, who is beautiful but distant, caught up in the search for a husband who will help erase the memory of Alice's father. Alice's friendship with Bridget, a tennis-playing Twiggy, introduces her to competitiveness and the shallow pettiness of rich girls as well as to the prejudice that many Americans still feel towards black people. But it is her friendship with Doc, the family gardener, that continually brings her back to the truths that will shape the decisions in her life as he reminds her that she should always do what's right.