Over centuries Lew Mills, a Grim Reaper, has strategically placed himself into human catastrophes to secure a high score against other Reapers in the game of death. But greed leads Mills to seek wealth and retirement in the year 1865. Abandoning the ill-fated paddle steamer Brother Jonathan in Crescent City California, he travels into the alien wilderness of Kentucky to find solace. Deadly consequences in Campbell County do not remove the demon from challenging a nemesis awaiting him in 1998, his great granddaughter. Spanning 147 years, this saga is set against a backdrop of doomed steamships, ex-slaves following the Civil War, thoroughbred farms, Churchill Downs, and deep sea diving.