Black Butterflies, White Fences

Ivy Strauss, a half-Jewish, Iowa farm girl has had enough! Her son Noah, a shy, stuttering twelve-year-old desperately needs some fatherly attention, but it’s clear her husband Ethan is too self-absorbed to notice the boy’s plight. Ivy describes Ethan’s involvement with his family as, “One half of a cross-breeze that blows in and out of our lives at will.”

Determined to do whatever it takes to help Noah feel comfortable in his own skin, Ivy tells Ethan she’s taking Noah to try out for an inner-city basketball team, a far cry from the ritzy, suburban life to which he’s accustomed. Ethan’s stereotypical response about blacks being superior athletes comes as no surprise. He even has the gall to say his pale, skinny son doesn’t stand a chance of making the team.

Ivy ignores her husband’s lame protests. She is desperate to help her son feel good about himself and knows if he doesn’t find something soon, there’s going to be trouble down the line.

In her journey to help Noah, Ivy encounters Demarc, a reticent man with a past whose hard-driving ways leave her shaken but intrigued. There’s no mistaking the glimmer of warmth lurking beneath his hard exterior. And you would have to be blind not to see how much he loves the kids who come to him needing much more than a game of basketball.

As basketball season clips along, Ivy’s friendship with Demarc gradually blooms into something unexpected. Will she ignore the growing rift in her marriage and allow love to flower? Or, will the hurdles of a romance between people from vastly different worlds be too much to surmount?