Days after graduating high school, Freddie McDougal escapes his small North Carolina mountain hometown to pursue a dream of rock and roll stardom. Seventeen years later, his mother pleads for him to come home. His father has only days to live.

Returning forces Freddie onto a path of self-discovery as he unravels the truth behind the tragic car crash that claimed the life of his popular and athletic brother, Dean. Everything he thought he knew about that awful night turns out to be false.

Caught in a whirlwind of emotions, Freddie must come to terms with his failures as a musician and decide how to navigate the murky waters of old friends, enemies, and family. With newfound clarity and understanding of his past, he faces the difficult choices that lie ahead.

Will Freddie let the ghosts of the past continue to haunt him, or will he find the strength to forge a new path, guided by the lessons learned from his long overdue homecoming? In this poignant tale, Sour Notes takes readers on a journey of self-discovery, reminding us that the power to shape our future lies in understanding and embracing our past.

Millerton, North Carolina, is a fictional small town between Asheville and the Tennessee state line. Like many of the real communities in the mountains, it traces its roots back through hunting, farming, forestry, and manufacturing. In recent years, jobs have dwindled and younger people have migrated to the bigger cities for opportunity. D. K. Wall's novels focus on the people who stayed behind and live their ordinary lives, even when extraordinary things happen to them.

While these books are based on the same town, they are not a series and can be read in any order. Each novel is a complete standalone.