In rural Tennessee in the summer of 1925, the local kids know that their vacation will be like none before after a whirlwind of press, lawyers, scientists, and religious leaders comes to town to prosecute and defend their science teacher Mr. Scopes, who was arrested for presenting Darwin's theory of evolution to his students.Visitors, spectators, and residents of Dayton, Tennessee, in 1925 describe, in a series of free-verse poems, the Scopes "monkey trial" and its effects on that small town and its citizens.