The son of a white man and Cherokee slave, Joseph Willis, gains his freedom and swims the mighty Mississippi on a mule. Driven by three winds... * a wind of freedom driving him from North Carolina * a mighty rushing wind compelling him across the Mississippi River into the Louisiana Territory * a wind of war fueled by slavery Antebellum Louisiana Rooted in a time of tradition and chivalry, Joseph discovers a land of innocence lost. His life converges with Louisiana contemporaries, including Solomon Northup, James Bowie, William Prince Ford, Edwin Epps, John Murrell, John Audubon, Baroness...