Set in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Where Southern Cross the Dog begins with the tragic slaying of a day laborer and the chance meeting of its two main characters: Travis Montgomery, a new graduate of Millsaps College, and Hannah Morgan, a young, educated, affluent African-American woman who returns to the South to assist her ailing grandmother. As their initial wariness turns to friendship and then romance, Travis and Hannah unravel the secrets behind the murder which include a conspiracy that runs from Clarksdale to pre-war Europe.