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Addison Freeman, a young man living with his family on the midwestern frontier in the late 1850s, is forced to relocate when Preacher Larrimer announces that the members of his congregation will be moving to Kansas, which has become the central battleground in the escalating conflict between pro-slavery and abolitionist forces. Kansas will soon be voting on whether to become a free or a slave state, and Larrimer hopes that moving the whole community westward will help tip the scales in the abolitionists' favor and keep Kansas free. Addison has other things on his mind. He yearns to marry Lizbeth Waverly, but his father refuses to grant permission, arguing that "plain girls make the best wives."
The trek west rapidly turns violent, and Addison is forced to kill a number of bandits who threaten the safety of the wagon train. The killings weigh on his conscience, resulting in a crisis of faith. Addison struggles to reconcile the gentle moral code of his upbringing with his newfound obligation to defend the innocent.
The author's book is well-researched, treating its cultural and historical setting with care and attentiveness. Zerr largely avoids the temptation to give his characters anachronistically modern perspectives. The result is a story that fully immerses the reader into antebellum America's social and political conflicts. Addison's transformation over the course of the novel from love-addled naïf to battle-hardened enforcer of justice is believable and compelling. The main love interest is thinly sketched, resulting in a romance that feels rushed and perfunctory. Instead, the book seems more interested in exploring the moral dilemmas its protagonist faces in the pursuit of a cause that is shown to be just and righteous. In this, the novel definitely excels.