The Civil War was over, but for Bill Douglas the fight was only just beginning. America was in turmoil following the controversial election of President Rutherford B. Hayes and the withdrawal of federal troops from the southern states. But all Bill wanted was revenge and justice. When shot and left for dead by his accomplice after a bank robbery in Santa Fe, Bill refused to co-operate with the authorities. But after staging a daring escape from jail, he found himself pursued by a relentless marshal while trying to hunt down the man who betrayed him.

It didn't seem that things could get any worse for him. But then he found himself embroiled in a plot to restore the Confederacy which involves a political assassination that will shatter the fragile peace and plunge the entire country in to chaos once more.

Meanwhile, Governor Lew Wallace tries to come to terms with his own past while writing his world-famous novel, Ben Hur. Both men must follow the trail of blood wherever it leads if they are to defeat their enemies and find their own redemption at last.