With New Orleans as their destination, Cheney Duvall and her nurse, Shiloh Irons, leave behind the glittering lights of New York City and travel first to Charleston, South Carolina, intending to stay for only a short time. But the purpose of their stop immediately draws them into the plight of this war-torn Southern city, in the painful throes of Reconstruction and carpetbagger policies after the Civil War.

As Cheney and Shiloh are embroiled in the political, social, and economic troubles that plague the city, they also are drawn into events related to the beginnings of the Knights of the White Rose, a fraternal order of white supremacists. Cheney and Rissy, her companion, find that they may not only be involved in social conflicts—their very lives are in danger!