The Third Book of Joy: Chain Dance is the second notebook of family lore, the collection of Joy's magical stories about her enslaved ancestors, researched by Professor Bo Wolfson in Burning Streams; the first notebook was published in Blood of Angels. When Heaven's heartbroken death in childbirth and Whip Man's torture at her father's hands lead her to resurrect herself as a death dancer, magic and terror drive the plantation's owner off of his land. Most of the men and women who labor on the haunted plantation flee, following Heaven's brother to his Louisiana swampland.

But not everyone runs. A winged angel, a dancing coven of witches, a shapeshifting wildcat, and a ferocious pack of werewolves defend Solace's plantation from attack. Marauding patrollers and opportunists clash with the cunning, the blood thirst, and the supernatural powers unleashed by women determined to free themselves and the men and children they love.