The Color of a Lie

A three-day snowstorm sets in. Calvin believes that they will never find Harry. On the fourth day, it has cleared enough for Calvin and his father to leave the house to go to work. At Vernon Realty, Vernon has assembled a large group of men and their sons. He tells Calvin that his files were stolen, and Calvin sees an empty cabinet with far more files missing than the one he stole.

Alex is there with his father, who is trying to dissuade Vernon’s men from hunting down Bobby Simms, the chief opposition to their housing policies. The men leave. Calvin wants to warn Sojourner, but no one picks up the phone. He sneaks across the downtown plaza to where his father works and steals his keys.

Calvin drives erratically, and the police pull him over. While the officer is running his license, he’s called away to another location. He tells Calvin to stay away from Pleasant Street, Lily’s street, where a mob is forming. He drives to Lily’s house using a back street. Though a mob is at the front throwing rocks, the back is deserted.

Her father is away on business. Calvin offers to drive Lily, her mother, and her sister to his house to stay. They protest, but Calvin insists, telling them about what happened when Charlotte stayed at their old house. When they hear several booms, they agree. They hide under a blanket as Calvin drives to his house. As Lily’s family enters the house, Calvin sees Mary watching.

Calvin tells his mother that he has to warn Robert. He gives her his backpack with the files and Thurgood Marshall’s card, telling her to send the files to him if anything happens to Calvin. His mother tells him to take his father with him, but Calvin returns the car and runs on foot to Sojourner.

Calvin notices a car passing on the road and decides that he has to cut through the Capewoods. Calvin tells Robert about the break-in, the mob’s attack on Lily, and their plan to get Bobby Simms. Robert rallies everyone to evacuate. When Calvin sees Eugene, he can tell that Eugene is the one who broke into Vernon Realty.

The approaching car is too close to evacuate out the front. Instead, Robert leads his students to the barn, where there is an entrance to an old tunnel left over from when Sojourner was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Though Eugene wants to stay and help Calvin confront the mob, he encourages them all to leave and covers up the entrance.

Calvin exits Sojourner to see only Alex, Ben, and Darren. Darren says that he showed up because Mary called him and told him about Calvin and Lily. As Darren checks the barn, Alex promises that he didn’t tell him Calvin was passing. Ben wants things to go back to normal and has decided that Calvin is “as white” as he is.

Darren doesn’t find anyone but wants to burn Sojourner down to send a message. Alex and Calvin push to leave. Calvin sees Harry’s bike in Ben’s trunk and asks when he got it back. Darren sees Lily in the trees and runs after her. Calvin asks Alex to help. Alex says that he came with Darren and Ben to distract and misguide them; he’ll try to lead them away from Lily.

Calvin enters the woods, which is filled with fog and howling noises. He thinks he hears Lily scream. Calvin goes to the abandoned church, hoping Lily is there. It’s where the Sojourner tunnel leads out, so he looks for the other entrance. He finds Harry locked in the basement tunnel, emaciated. A cave-in has prevented access between the tunnel’s exits.

Harry says that he got the school registration papers and fled into the tunnels, where a boy locked him in and took his bike. He has a broken ankle. Calvin tells Harry that he’ll come back with help.

Outside, he sees Darren trap Lily. Eugene appears, tackling Darren. Darren tries to strangle Eugene, only loosening when Calvin punches him. Darren gets out a knife; Eugene says that he recognizes Darren from the day Harry went missing. He slices Eugene’s stomach. Eugene slams into Darren, who slips on the snow and cracks his head on the ground. Alex arrives and says that Darren isn’t breathing.

Together, they move Darren’s body. Alex wants to tell the truth; Eugene and Calvin both want to take the fall for Darren’s death to protect the others. Calvin swears that Alex is trustworthy. Alex admits that he is Jewish through his mother’s side and that Vernon was investigating their lineage before stopping when the Sampsons were ousted. Lily goes to the barn to help Robert while Alex, Calvin, and Eugene carry Darren’s body to the barn.

Ben is in the church, near the tunnel’s entrance. He’s crying and says that he came to get Harry and tell him he’s sorry. Eugene and Calvin evacuate Harry, who needs to go to a hospital. They wrap Darren’s body in old linens and lock his body in the back of the tunnel.

They get Harry to Sojourner. Calvin tells Robert that Harry and Eugene need to go to the hospital, and James takes them. Ben says that he came to Sojourner with Darren to look for Harry. Last week, Darren saw Harry’s bike and pursued him with Ben, who thought Darren was joking around. When Darren said that Harry disappeared into the woods, he believed him until he heard the story about a missing boy. He got Darren to confess what he did.

Alex tells Robert about Darren. Calvin tells everyone to claim that Darren said he wanted to join the mob near Lily’s house. Ben swears to keep the secret about Darren’s death. He and Alex leave. A nearby pastor arrives to take Robert’s students to safety. Lily says that her little sister Vera told Mary where Calvin had gone, thinking she was Calvin’s friend. Lily came to warn them.

Calvin’s father arrives. Alex called him and told him what was happening. He wants to take Calvin, Lily, and Robert to safety. He doesn’t care about passing anymore and wants to protect them all. When they get home, Calvin notices that his mother seems happy for the first time since moving as she talks with Lily’s mother.

They wait over the weekend for the mob to come to their house. News breaks that Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up a bus seat to a white woman and that Dr. King is rallying for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Calvin tells his family that he wants to do something about segregation in Levittown. His father admits that Mr. Sampson was a friend of his from World War II. After his wife was murdered, Sampson couldn’t stay, so Calvin’s father moved into the house to find out who killed Mrs. Sampson. He used his job at Concord Park to convince white families to live in the integrated community. His father says that he wasn’t able to find evidence against Vernon. Calvin gives him the evidence and Thurgood Marshall’s contact information.

The next day, Calvin’s father says they’re returning to Chicago. It’s too risky to stay after Mary saw Lily’s family at their house, and they can’t move to Concord Park, as people might hunt them down there after finding out the truth about their identities. Calvin’s father asks Robert to go with them, but he can’t leave the Sojourner students, for whom he is their only family. Robert leaves with James and Lily’s family. Mary watches from a window.

Ben and Alex arrive in a car. Ben had been watching their house to make sure they were safe and saw them packing. Alex hugs Calvin goodbye. Ben apologizes, and Calvin hugs him as well. Ben wants to make up for his previous actions. As Calvin and his family leave, he can hear Ben scolding Mary for watching them. As they drive away, Calvin is filled with inspiration to go to law school to become like Thurgood Marshall so that he can honor Charlotte and fight for justice like his heroes.

Two years later, Calvin starts school at Morehouse College for men. His roommate is Eugene, who he has talked to regularly but hasn’t seen since he left Sojourner for the hospital. They couldn’t stop Vernon’s housing practices, but Morehouse gave Eugene a scholarship for integrating 20 Black students at Heritage. After dropping Eugene off at their room, Calvin goes across the street to Spelman College, where Lily just moved in. They kiss, happy to be reunited.