Framed for a murder he didn't commit, Zebadiah finds himself in a New Orleans prison cell next to Willie Dan, a cold-blooded killer, who insists they escape together. As Zeb refuses and is sent upriver to the swamps on a chain gang to build a road for the Hydras plantation, he is thrust into a conspiracy of confederates, whose efforts to build a golden circle of slave states from Texas, Louisiana and Georgia to Cuba are just beginning to take hold. Through brutal coercion, Zeb is forced back to New Orleans to assassinate General Sam Houston, future president of the new Republic of Texas. With the help of friends and foes alike, the assassination is thwarted but not without consequences, sending Zebadiah racing up the Mississippi River to the Lower Missouri and back to Anna, his one true love, before the murderer Willie Dan can reach her. Thus, comes to conclusion the trilogy of books, where Zebadiah Creed indeed finds redemption and forgiveness through a most unexpected way.