Number 47, a fourteen-year-old slave boy growing up under the watchful eye of a brutal master in 1832, meets the mysterious Tall John, who introduces him to a magical science and also teaches him the meaning of freedom.

Moinette, a mixed-race child born into slavery on a Louisiana plantation, gains an education by listening to the lessons given her young mistress, and when she is sold and separated from her beloved mother at the age of fourteen, she immediately begins to make plans to gain her freedom.

Drew O'Connor, still broken-hearted over the loss of his betrothed three years earlier, wins a bride in a game of chance whom he plans to keep as a servant and caretaker of his young niece, but instead finds himself saddled with a woman who is argumentative, cannot cook, claims to be the daughter of an earl--and is totally captivating.

A story based on the true experiences of a Civil War heroine finds Carrie McGavock witnessing the bloodshed of the Battle of Franklin, falling in love with a wounded man, and dedicating her home as a burial site for fallen soldiers.