In the fall of 1863, the Union Army controls the Mississippi River and much of Louisiana, as the Civil War rolls on.

Wade Lufkin is a man without a country or a cause - an idle spectator since New Orleans surrendered, he now paints at his uncle's plantation. That is until he finds an intriguing new subject...

Hannah Laveau is an enslaved woman who stands accused of everything from adultery to insurrection, from magic to murder. But all she wants is to find her missing son - and she will risk her life for it.

When Hannah goes on the run, she must dodge the calculating and merciless local constable and the slavecatchers that prowl the bayou as she flees through Louisiana, from the cottonmouth snakes and tree-lined swamps to the dingy saloons of New Orleans.