Will Ennis rules his sprawling plantation empire on the Texas prairie by holding his petty and capricious fist over a mix of sharecroppers and leased convicts. George Purdy is a tenant looking for a fair shake. Trouble feels inevitable.

When murder inserts itself into the already brutal landscape, irascible defense attorney J.B. Duckworth aims to set things right, but the lawyer's mercurial scruples do not always sit well with his peers in the legal community at the start of the 1900s. Though Duckworth is willing to face all comers, he often does so with an eye toward what plays well in the press. The ultimate question is what lengths Duckworth will travel to secure justice for his clients and what others will do to stop him.

If you enjoy richly human characters and enveloping drama, you will love this thoroughly American tale of our history's heartbreaking tangles.