Bobby and his family are visiting Civil War battlefields on the eve of the war's centenary, while inside their car, quiet battles rage. When an accident cuts their trip short, they return home on a bus and witness an incident that threatens to deny a black family seats. What they don't know is the reason for the family's desperation to be on that bus: a few towns away, their child is missing. Lunch-Box Dreampresents Jim Crow, racism, and segregation from multiple perspectives. In this story of witnessing without understanding, a naively prejudiced boy, in brief flashes of insight, starts to identify and question his assumptions about race.