Serbina Monroe had high hopes at the end of the Civil War for life to be better than it had been during the last four strife filled years. Her husband, Brice, came home from the war wounded, but he had fully recovered. His grist mill and sawmill were busy. Sibby looked forward to the day when renegades in the area was replaced with law abiding citizens. She wanted Texas County, Missouri to be a safe place for her children to grow up in. A place where folks lived side by side without being labeled a Federalist or Confederate sympathizer. Suddenly, Sibby finds her world shattered. Two lawmen escorting two horse thieves stop to talk to Brice abouttraveling through the wilderness grove with them. Two weeks later, a young boy finds the horse thieves dangling from the end of ropes in the grove. Brice is the only one around to point a finger at. He says he's innocent, but he knows he won't be able to find an unbiased jury. There are men in Texas County that have their own reasons for wanting Brice Monroe out of the way. His only alternative is to run as far from Texas County as he can get and leave Sibby and their children to pay the consequences.