Samuel Elwyn Biggs has fled the life-sucking poverty into which he was born the hard hammering fist of his drunkard of a father, and his religion-besotted mother. And now he must learn to survive on his own. The gaming halls of Petersburg beckon him. He finds he has a talent with games of chance. From a consumptive and dying old man who cares little for the things he spent a lifetime accruing, Sam wins undeveloped property in the piedmont of North Carolina. He leaves Petersburg behind and enters a world of conflict. And there, he encounters a mysterious and beautiful young woman named Rose. Sam and Rose wish to marry, but Rose continually delays the wedding. There are secrets that Sam must be told secrets that can ruin lives. Only Rose can tell Sam of her past. Wrongs must be righted and there are people who must die for the evil they have become.