The Civil War and the years of Reconstruction had finally ended. The small town of Tuskegee, Alabama, had quietly adjusted to the changes. I Am That I Am takes us to this demure town. Just when the scalawags and carpetbaggers ceased their tumultuous attempts to reorganize the South, a more sinister enemy appeared. The endless stretches of cotton flourishing during the hot days of summer abruptly ended. The ominous boll weevil with its insatiable appetite threatened the economy of the South. The white cotton was now brown and dying on the vines. Sarah, once a part of the antebellum gentry, proved to be a staunch ray of hope for both her family and her neighbors. One neighbor in particular was the equally resolute paradigm of Southern love and hospitality. This neighbor was Zachariah, a kind and humble soul who was raising his two granddaughters, Elizabeth and Mary. When Dr. George Washington Carver came to the recently opened school for Negroes (as the African Americans were called in those day), he found the help given by people such as Sarah and Zachariah, a refreshing reminder of God’s providential hand. Even more surprising was the tenacious love of the people that transcended any color barriers that many would assume existed. Dr. Carver, a botanist, soon found the rare yet simple solution to the boll weevil epidemic—the tiny insect called the beetle. If only Sarah could find a solution to the dark and mysterious cloud that seemed to aggrieve her daughter-in-law. If only Zachariah could solve the mystery of the disappearing food from the barn.