This is a fast-paced story if intrigue, adventure, romance, and tragedy in the lives of three families as the curtain of sorrow and treachery fall on a country soon to be divided against itself. While Americans across the land seek to keep alive the traditions and society in which they have lived their lives, others like Jack Benton intend to take advantage of uncertainty and vulnerabilities of all those who desperately grab for what it their own sense of security. His organization crisscrosses the east coast, putting northern guns in confederate hands, trafficking in slave trade, destroying the lives of those who are weak, innocent, lost, and who have to rights or direction. Federal agent Richard Bower struggles to pierce the wall of corruption, immorality, and wickedness around Benton and his directors. As this saga of American history unfolds at the brink of the Civil War, the world looks on as the very idea of government by the people is tested, once and for all, as a viable form of government.