The battle may be over, but the war has just begun. The Siege of Vicksburg has ended and for Lummy Tullos, so has the war. Weary of battle, loss, and death, he has decided to return to Winn Parish to salvage what little life he has left. Sneaking away from the Confederate Army on the march from Vicksburg to a parole camp, he sets out with his closest friend, J.A., on a path of their own choosing. Together they evade Union patrols, cross the Mississippi River under fire, and dodge the Southern Home Guard as they make the long walk home. He comes home ready to lay down his weapons of war, only to find his fight for justice has just begun.

Reuniting with his friend and former slave Old Bart, Lummy learns the brutal truth surrounding the death of his wife, Susannah. Filled with grief, he must regain his strength and the leader of a ragtag army of former rebel soldiers as they hunt down outlaw Home Guardsman Dawg Smith and the other members of his corrupt band, responsible for years of mayhem and death across the parish. It's not the homecoming he'd once wished for, but when Lummy stumbles across the opportunity to live up to his new oath of setting men free, he recognizes it for what it really is-a path to his own redemption.