Two decaying bodies buried in shallow graves are uncovered while workers are excavating for a parking lot in DeKalb, Mississippi. Were these the murdered teenagers, whose deaths led an American president to reconsider his policies to reconstruct a war-torn nation, or were these the bodies of two teenagers running from a vengeful father because of an unwanted pregnancy? Would the answer lie in the dark recesses of an elderly woman's mind, which had gone to a place where no one could follow?

With this macabre discovery, an indifferent forensic pathologist, a publicity-hungry police officer, and a determined archivist set out on a journey that had begun a century ago on the blood-drenched fields of Gettysburg and Vicksburg. One of them would pay for an expensive burial. Unanswered questions loom.

2