In the late 18th Century, Englishman Emory Oveson flees to the American south to find answers to questions that haunt his London childhood. There he meets and falls in love with an Indian woman so close to nature that she appears to be a part of it. Through her Emory finds answers to many of the questions that sparked his journey. But their new, fantastical world—an odd blend of Native American, European, and African cultures—soon implodes in the first race war fought by a young American nation, setting the course of southern American history.