In 2000, as Seth Anderson researches his family history, he discovers an unexpected story and "contained within it lies a larger story that might speak not just to Southern history but beyond it." In the late 1800s in rural Alabama, Melinda Anderson, tended by Annie-Mae, a part-Choctaw midwife, struggles to give birth to her tenth child. When the infant dies, just hours after birth, suspicion falls upon two women—Betsy, Annie Mae's daughter and the mixed-race mistress of Melinda's husband, Rafe; and Melinda herself, worn out by perpetual pregnancies and nurturing a dark anger toward her husband, a hardened veteran of the Civil War. Seeking to clear her own name and tarnish that of her enemy, Melinda enlists the help of a conjure woman who dabbles in dark magic—with tragic consequences. As Seth's search for his family's truth continues, he must come to terms with their unwillingness to confront the past and in his own culpability in that failure.