Ben and Sonja Pulaski struggle to rekindle their fragile relationship and rebuild their lives along the canal that flows from free state to slave state, in a young country struggling to find the proper course. The Pulaskis are targeted by a violent man Ben thought left for dead, and a conniving banker Sonja humiliated in desperation, who join together in a dark business venture, and devise a plan to destroy the Pulaskis. Ben and Sonja find themselves in the center of a deadly storm fed by greed, slavery, and revenge, releasing the monster held deep within Ben, and pouring blood on the Chesapeake.