at the fall line

In 1869 Virginia, a little girl fatally tumbles into a granite quarry. Her mother, aunt, and sister turn for comfort to Louis, the quarry foreman and a Union veteran.

Louis falls in love with the aunt, but she is married, virtuous - unattainable. Seeking means to wed elsewhere, he brings a law suit against a cousin who ruined his father. The suit stirs up dead causes and deadly chicanery, while his relations with the women grow dangerously intimate.

Deeply rooted in the beloved homeland whose cause he fought against with all his heart, Louis yearns for a woman who cannot be his and for a life that war and time have forever undone.