Big House Dreams is a southern family saga that spans four generations beginning with pious, judgmental Emma Jenkins who dictates the way life should be lived by spouting old adages and Bible verses. In l947, however, when she decisively tells her eighteen year old daughter, Sara Mae, "I kain't have no whore livin' under my roof," their relationship is severed. It is a horrid close to Sara Mae's adolescence, yet she struggles onward, seeking to understand not only herself, but a community that has been tainted with murder, destruction, and cruelty at the hands of more than one unsavory resident. In time Sara Mae abandons tiny Cam's Corner, and though fraught with hateful memories of her youth, she tenaciously, albeit a bit naively, plows into adulthood discovering along the way the depth of her resilience and her capacity to love. She raises a daughter, Sheila, and is pulled into the lives of Sheila's four fast friends who bumble into adult life with a hearty balance of snipping and support. The disparate nature of the girls drives them apart and pulls them together again in random fashion. Through it all, with the men who come in and out of their lives, they experience shock, betrayal, love, acceptance, and resolve. In the end, Sara Mae reflects. It has not been an easy road but the bumps and crooks eventually lead her to a catharsis and to a clearer understanding of life.
