Niall MacLachlainn drinks to escape the bitterness borne of resentment toward his father. But instead of providing an escape, a bout of drunkenness ushers a nightmare into Niall's life...a nightmare of torture at the hands of unscrupulous men who lust for the gold on Cherokee land. And the wounded soul of a boy becomes the scarred shell of a man. When he finds love with Meli, he hopes to leave his past failures behind. But heartbreak finds Niall again through his infant son. Can he ever receive forgiveness for his failures? And will his father ever give him the approval he craves? Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous years of the American Revolution, Deep in the Valley continues the saga of the Ailean MacLachlainn family, whose fortune and future is tied to the fate of the new nation.