Growing up in Midland County in the rolling hills of western Virginia in 1985, JT Godwin has a life that is simple and true. Son of the county sheriff and the high school quarterback, JT was ready for a summer of beers by the lake, mowing lawns, and practicing his throwing arm, but after witnessing a shocking vehicular manslaughter of a Jewish journalist, JT’s entire world shifts. Elements of his small town that had gone unexamined must now be dealt with.
JT, with the help of his friends, launches a private investigation of the car crash after his father mystifyingly decides not to pursue the case. For the first time, JT encounters the darker forces at play in his town and the influences of religion, politics, and bigotry impacting his daily life. The amateur investigation ultimately leads him to New Jersey and Redstone Arsenal where they discover the sobering truth of a WW2 Nazi living in plain sight in Midland County and how he came to live there. What will JT do with this unsettling information? With an unflinching eye and a healthy sense of humor, Green Grass High Tides probes the complex duality of human nature and strikes right at the heart of what it means to grow up.