Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, this story follows three years in the life of eight-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus. The three years are punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up, all through the eyes of a young girl. Robert Mulligan directed the film adaptation, which won an Oscar for best script (Horton Foote) and best actor (Gregory Peck).