Summary

Trace Burdette is a Texan who fought for the Union. He returns to claim the farm left to him by his brother who died in a mysterious accident.

Trace meets Anne Michaels, his brother's sweetheart, and learns she is pregnant. He marries her to save her reputation.

Regina Mills, a young woman from Indiana, is recruited by the Freedmen's Bureau to teach the Negro children. She decides to live at the hotel owned by Anne's father. She and Anne become good friends.

With the Klu Klux Klan terrorizing the countryside, and a yellow fever epidemic raging through Texas, Trace and Grady, his partner, are caught up in the turmoil.

The obstacles Trace and Regina face are finally resolved. The North won the war but it was a bitter victory.