Natalie Browning Latimer finds her family torn apart as the Union dissolves and the Civil War looms.

After living in London, John Fraser and his wife Anne return to her family's plantation on St. Simons Island, Georgia. John learns about coastal planting from Anne's father, Jock Couper, and her brother, James Hamilton, both world-renowned for their agricultural expertise. From day one it's a struggle for John, for he must not only master the techniques of planting and harvesting, but he must -- contrary to his deepest beliefs -- become a slave owner....

A young man of privilege arrives in Savannah, never dreaming of how the port would become involved in his expanding fortune or of how he would become involved in the intrigue of war and his love for two women.

The continuing story of the Browning, Mackay, and Stiles clans as they struggle to survive in the Old South.