In the summer of 1864, the ongoing war against the Union leaves the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia jittery and dispirited. When Amanda, a lonely, young mother whose husband is away fighting for the Confederacy, meets a convalescing soldier, she welcomes the diversion. Her enchantment soon turns to panic when she discovers that she is pregnant. Told in historically rich, poetic detail, the story peels back the veneer of gentility as well as slave codes to reveal the humanity of its characters at a time when Southern society is about to topple. As Richmond veers towards its inexorable fall to the Union army, the novel exposes the forces behind the upheaval over slavery whose echoes continue today.