Lindsey Underwood and Ronnie Childers secretly swap the approved books in Lula's Little Library with banned titles hidden under their dust jackets.

Beverly Underwood opposes Lula's book ban as school board head and stores the confiscated banned books in her basement.

Dawn Dugan borrows a book from Lula's library and discovers Anne Frank's diary hidden inside its dust jacket.

Dawn's teenage son Nate vandalizes a Jewish neighbor's home with a swastika after being recruited into his father's neo-Nazi group.

Dawn stacks her husband Nathan's Nazi paraphernalia on the front lawn for the entire town to see, then flees with her son.

Delvin Crump finds Toni Morrison's Beloved hidden inside an 'Our Confederate Heroes' dust jacket and resolves to plant more banned books himself.

Darlene Cagle posts on Facebook about being gang-raped in high school, publicly naming current mayor Randy Sykes as one of the perpetrators.

Mayor Randy Sykes resigns from office in disgrace after Darlene's Facebook post spreads throughout the community.

Isaac, Elijah, and Bella unfurl a banner at Lula's Confederate statue rally declaring that Augustus Wainwright was a serial rapist.

Beverly recounts in flashback how years of DNA research revealed that Augustus Wainwright repeatedly raped the enslaved women on his plantation.

Beverly and Isaac Wright plan a large family reunion to unite all Black and white descendants of Augustus Wainwright.

Delvin visits Logan Walsh's house and discovers packed duffel bags of weapons and a hand-drawn tactical map of the town square.

Logan Walsh shoots himself after Delvin Crump and Jeb Sweeney corner him inside his house, preventing a planned massacre.

Lula's twin children confront her outside Sunday church, revealing her secret erotic novel collection and her son's career as a drag queen.

The Confederate statue of Augustus Wainwright is removed and replaced with one honoring an anonymous Black woman; Beverly eventually becomes governor.

The story begins when Lindsey Underwood secretly replaces Lula Dean's approved titles with banned books hidden under harmless dust jackets, sending shockwaves through the small town of Troy. As residents unknowingly read the forbidden volumes, the consequences ripple outward — a neo-Nazi's wife publicly exposes her husband's paraphernalia and flees town, a corrupt mayor is brought down by a decades-old Facebook post, and a postal worker finds renewed purpose in the resistance. When Beverly Underwood and teenage Isaac Wright discover through DNA testing that they share descent from the infamous Confederate general Augustus Wainwright, they unite to demand his statue's removal from the town square. A radicalized young man named Logan Walsh plots a mass shooting to silence the dissenters, but is cornered by Delvin Crump and Jeb Sweeney and dies by suicide before anyone else is harmed. Lula's own twin children then destroy her credibility by exposing her secret erotic novel collection and revealing her son as a celebrated drag queen in front of the entire church congregation. In the aftermath, the Confederate statue comes down, Beverly rises to lead the state as governor, and Troy emerges as a more literate and tolerant community.

The headline events that drove Troy's transformation.

Ronnie Childers sits in Troy's town square on hallucinogenic mushrooms when Lindsey Underwood approaches him late at night.

Bella reads 'A Girl's Guide to the Revolution' hidden in a book from Lula's library and stages a school dress-code protest.

Wilma Jean Cummings and great-granddaughter Bella secretly construct an intricately decorated erotic birthday cake to prove Wilma's mental sharpness to her family.

Wilma confronts her greedy relatives in the presence of an attorney and demands the return of her stolen painting.

Crystal Moore borrows a copy of 'The Rules' from Lula's library and discovers a book about witchcraft hidden inside instead.

Crystal goes into the woods seeking spell ingredients, has an epiphany about her own desires, and decides to seek a divorce.

Elijah Wright reads 'Rivals and Lovers' hidden inside a Chicken Soup for the Soul cover and concludes the book did not make him gay.

Ten-year-old Beau Sykes borrows a book from Lula's library and reads 'Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret' inside the cover.

Mitch Sweeney arrives in Troy, stands beside Lula's Little Library before reporters, and publicly endorses Lula's campaign for mayor.

Librarian Mara Ocumma discovers Melody Sykes researching poisonous mushrooms and persuades her to hire a divorce lawyer rather than poison Randy.

History teacher Jonathan Bartlett and Crystal Moore collaborate on a Facebook post accusing Lula of secretly planting banned books in her own library.

Lindsey Underwood returns to Troy and confesses to swapping the books in Lula's library to spare her mother Beverly from arrest.

Ronnie Childers steps forward and offers to take the legal blame for the book swap to protect Lindsey; she breaks down crying.

Hundreds of Wright-Wainwright relatives arrive from across the region and gather for a family reunion in Troy's town square.

Mitch Sweeney announces he will write a screenplay about Troy's story and transfers ownership of the family farm to his brother Jeb.

From the moment Lindsey and Ronnie set the prank in motion, Troy's residents begin experiencing quiet personal revolutions through the banned books they unknowingly borrow. A young rebel stages a dress-code protest at school, a sharp-witted widow reasserts her mental competence with an outrageous birthday cake, and a betrayed wife discovers self-determination through a witchcraft manual. A teenage boy learns that reading about gay couples does not make him gay, while a ten-year-old demystifies female biology from a book meant for girls. As suspicion about the library swap grows, a history teacher and a newly empowered divorcée collaborate on a Facebook post that blows Lula's campaign wide open. Once exposed, everyone rallies around Lindsey and Beverly — with Ronnie offering to take the legal fall and Wilma coming out of retirement to defend them — until the community gathers for a watershed family reunion that redefines what it means to belong to Troy.

The individual awakenings sparked by the banned books.

Lula stumbles across an erotic cake book left as a prank in the town library, which ignites her entire book-banning crusade.

As cheerleading captain, Beverly awards the final squad slot to rape victim Darlene over Lula, creating their bitter lifelong rivalry.

Darlene's daughters bring home the hidden book 'Speak' from Lula's library, inspiring Darlene to finally break her decades-long silence.

Beverly recalls reading 'This Blood and Soil' as a college freshman, which shattered her idealized image of ancestor Augustus Wainwright.

Beverly's friends at Val's Beauty Salon urge her to run for mayor following Randy Sykes's unexpected resignation.

Jeb Sweeney opens 'The Art of the Deal' borrowed from Lula's library and finds Maus hidden inside, sensing that trouble is coming.

Betsy Wright plans to return 'Rivals and Lovers' to Lula's library, but Delvin Crump urges her to read it and accept Isaac's sexuality.

Lula's Confederate statue rally descends into chaos when Logan Walsh draws a gun and Mitch's stumble knocks Bella unconscious.

Mitch Sweeney publicly betrays Lula's cause on the morning news by announcing he will personally sponsor the Wright-Wainwright family reunion.

Lindsey wrongly blames herself for Logan's suicide, convinced the copy of 'The Catcher in the Rye' found at his house drove him to it.

Melody Sykes brings her son Beau to Lula's library for an anti-smut campaign, but Beau publicly praises the banned book that helped him.

Wilma and Bella discover Lula paid only $7.75 for all her library books, reducing Lindsey's charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Ken and Kari Kelly watch their edited reunion interview air on the evening news and realize they have been cast as fake news.

Beverly gathers everyone in Troy whose life was changed by the banned books to collectively reassure Lindsey that her prank was worthwhile.

Nahla Crump places her handbound book 'The Heroes of Troy, Georgia' inside Lula's Little Library, becoming the novel's final image.

The seeds of Troy's upheaval were planted long before Lindsey's prank, beginning with a teenage grudge when Beverly championed rape victim Darlene over Lula for the cheerleading squad and igniting a rivalry that would shape the town for decades. As hidden histories surface — from Beverly's discovery of Augustus Wainwright's crimes against enslaved women to Jeb Sweeney sensing danger in a hidden copy of Maus — each revelation forces characters to make consequential choices. The town square rally becomes a flashpoint, with Logan Walsh drawing a gun before Mitch Sweeney publicly betrays Lula by announcing his support for the Wainwright family reunion. Characters on the margins prove decisive: a mother is nudged toward accepting her gay son, a boy accidentally sinks his mother's political ambitions, and a lawyer-turned-retiree reduces a felony charge with a receipt for $7.75. By the time the community gathers to reassure Lindsey that her prank changed Troy for the better, the transformation is unmistakable. The novel closes with Nahla Crump placing her handbound book about Troy's real heroes inside Lula's Little Library, completing the cycle.