Green Little is a Quaker farmer with a conflicted passion for drinking and fighting. Thanks to a bond with an unlikely friend confined to servitude, he has somehow survived. As Green, his wife, and their children try to begin a new life, he must leave his friend behind. As the years pass, his family becomes larger, while the possibility of a Civil War grows greater, Green is about to discover that fate will play an even bigger part in his life than he ever imagined.

Meanwhile, Old Jeb is battling just to survive in the pre-war South. In an effort to protect his wife and five...