ruth jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a connecticut hospital with more than twenty years experience during her shift ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn only to be told a few minutes later that shes been reassigned to another patient the parents are white supremacists and dont want ruth who is african american to touch their child the hospital complies with their request but the next day the baby goes into cardiac distress while ruth is alone in the nursery does she obey orders or does she intervene ruth hesitates before performing cpr and as a result is charged with a serious crime kennedy mcquarrie a white public defender takes her case but gives unexpected advice kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy conflicted by kennedys counsel ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her familyespecially her teenage sonas the case becomes a media sensation as the trial moves forward ruth and kennedy must gain each others trust and come to see that what theyve been taught their whole lives about othersand themselvesmight be wrong with incredible empathy intelligence and candor jodi picoult tackles race privilege prejudice justice and compassionand doesnt offer easy answers small great things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game