"Raised on a small Ohio farm just across the river from Kentucky, Jacob remains largely indifferent to the impending struggle between the North and the South. But then his father - against his own better judgement - allows two runaway slaves, Isaac and his daughter Sarah, to be hidden on their land. Hostile to them at first, Jacob soon finds himself drawn to the beautiful Sarah, gradually falling in love - and in lust - with her.

When the local militia discovers the slaves, Jacob's world is irrevocably turned upside down as he is forced to watch the militia men abuse his mother and destroy his home. When Jacob can take the abuse no more, he kills one of the soldiers and flees for his life, crossing to the other side of the river, heading south and then wandering west, no goal in mind other than escape from the men he assumes are hunting for him.".

"Jacob encounters a wild group of rebels fighting for the Southern cause. Drawn into the frenzy of death and destruction these men foster, Jacob, once repelled then desensitized by the brutality of war, finds himself becoming more and more inured to the gory violence that saturates his new life."--BOOK JACKET.