A Lesson Before Dying

Wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death in a small Louisiana community in the late 1940s, Jefferson tries to find freedom during his last days. Grant Wiggins, a school teacher who is struggling to find where he belongs is persuaded to visit Jefferson in prison and impart his wisdom and pride to the young man. Romulus Linney’s A Lesson Before Dying examines the ways in which people must find the value of their lives when they seem to count for nothing.