A tail set against the back drop of rural Appalachia during the start of the bloodiest year of the American Civil War. Narrated by a 12 year old boy who, at an All-Hollow-E'en dance witnesses the murder of his father by a rogue Union Officer named Colonel "Black Damp" McCabe. Now an old man, the boy who has now grown up is facing his own death, having just completed his manuscript recording his decades-long journey of adventure, revenge, and an unholy discovery. During his search for retribution, enemies quickly become friends....but things are not what they appear to be. Not all survive the horrors of the Five Finger Mountains. The end is just the beginning as the young boy and his friends encounter far, far worse than the simple conflict of man.