The residents of the small Florida town of Lorimer work hard to feed their families and support their community, overcoming the hardships of life; drought, personal loss, financial insecurity, and the racial tensions of the day. It is 1940, and with war looming overseas the future is cloudy, a feeling reinforced when an Army base is built near Lake Luisa, the town's only water supply. Soon after, the lake level begins to drop and the farmers and residents grow fearful that they will lose their primary water source and, consequently, their crops and their livelihoods. Quickly, the people of Lorimer are caught in the grip of religious and racial discord as they grow desperate to find solutions to the town's mounting problems. For Waylon Brown and his family the situation is worsened when his children, Hannah and Jacob, discover the bodies of missing black men in the increasingly shallow lake bed, men suspected of having been murdered by a notorious local farmer with known antipathy toward the Negro population. Soon after, a series of sinkholes opens up near the lake that causes the townsfolk to fear that God is unleashing his anger on them for failing to heed their pastor's strict interpretation of Scripture. As the lake continues to drain more sinkholes open up, increasingly larger and closer to town, prompting Hannah and Jacob to seek the truth behind the Army's secret work in Camp Sperling and the impact it is having on the lake. What is ultimately discovered turns their fear into terror as unknown antagonists begin stalking people in the night. Hannah learns through an Indian mystic that the waning water in the lake has opened doorways to the underworld, doorways that only Hannah can close. At the same time, Waylon finds himself forced to decide whether to challenge the town's authorities and the edicts of the base's commander or accept that Lorimer's fate might already have been decided. Racial tensions mount and Lorimer becomes a town divided as Waylon and his friends struggle to find answers in the face of threats of arrest and banishment from the church. Using the often course language of the day, Sinkhole Summer presents a picture of a time in the recent past when concepts of security and normalcy are challenged by circumstances seemingly beyond the control of the average citizen, forcing people to accept that traditional beliefs and practices might no longer be adequate to protect them or restore stability to their town. Only by thwarting the spread of hate and mistrust that has set loose ominous and terrifying forces can the residents of Lorimer ever again know peace.
