In February of 1919, a young Cajun journalist, Teophile Landry, returns from four years as a war correspondent in Europe only to encounter more tragedy at home. Eventually assigned to cover a Louisiana gubernatorial race, he discovers a world of political machines, secret societies, racial injustice, prohibition, and jazz. Teo becomes enamored of a beautiful suffragist from Kansas, renews his friendship with a young Italian dentist/saxophonist, and unwittingly helps a young field hand and his family leave plantation life for a fresh start in New Orleans. While traveling from the bayous of Cajun Country to the streets of New Orleans and the plantations of Mississippi, Teo begins his own journey toward becoming a voice for justice and compassion in the world of lynchings, package bombs, protests, conspiracy theories, and fear that is 1919 America.