Jordan's Crossing... Just the thought of her family's Mississippi plantation is enough to set China Bayles adrift on a sea of memories. The sweet perfume of magnolia blossoms mixed with the hot, heady smells of the swamp. The house, perched on the banks of the Bloodroot River, a trenchant reminder of the bitterest, bloodiest moments in the country's history. And the secrets. The shameful, stifling secrets that have kept her away for so long...

A frantic phone call from her mother finally brings her back. But the late-spring air is thick with fear - and from the moment of her arrival, China knows that something has gone desperately wrong at Jordan's Crossing. Her great-aunt, the family matriarch, is gravely ill. An ancient property deed has surfaced - and the man who uncovered it has mysteriously vanished. And as the fates and fortunes of two very different families collide in frightening, unpredictable ways, China must face disturbing new questions about her family's past - and her own future.