Sam is an inquisitive freshman at a liberal arts college in Boston and has an overactive imagination. His father is a descendant of Samuel Adams, a historian, and author that just published a book about his favorite American symbol, the Liberty Tree. Sam meets Arienette when she challenges one of his ideas on Albert Camus' The Stranger in a philosophy class. The two begin to hang out and become close as they are constantly challenging one another's perspectives on the world. Sam faces his biggest challenge on his path to the truth when Arienette reveals to him what really happened at the Liberty Tree. They both come to question their cultural identities that have become intertwined by current events, in the context of their countries, hope, personal beliefs, and vastly different, sometimes bloody, historical pasts.