A man known only as Blood guides an oxcart of rum towards Indian Stream, the wild, ungoverned territory where the luckless and the outlawed escape to make a fresh start. Blood, a man of contradictions with a secret past that has scorched his soul, hopes to start a new life as a trader. But his arrival at Indian Stream with Sally, a sixteen-year-old girl won in a game of cards, triggers a conflict that spills over the borders of the community, and Blood becomes the target of outside authorities looking for someone to blame. As plots unravel and violence escalates, Blood is forced to confront the ghosts of his past while Sally is offered a chance at freedom.