A family moving via wagon and horses from the backcountry of South Carolina to Georgia is seeking a new home and the young son Joseph doesn’t understand why. It’s 1822, and the pioneers make their way to a new life in the forests of what will become Atlanta. Later, the railroad opens new ways but also more reasons for struggle between the “moral” people and the hard-drinking, quick-to-fight Free and Rowdy crowd. The Morgans—men and women of faith who just try to keep to lane—are threatened by lifestyles their relatives enjoy, but which are bought on the backs of others. A well-researched novel used as required reading in some college history courses, this story based on Georgia and South Carolina history brings the reader to the cusp of the Civil War, and paints the scene for the inevitable conflict.