Baltimore of the 1850's: a turbulent and spasmodic city in a nation rushing toward civil war. Against this chaotic background, John English and James Morgan-rival chieftains of the notorious street gang known as -vie for supremacy. Funded by politics, and fueled by riot and mayhem, these thugs struggle for respect and power. Estranged, they pursue one another, each man intent upon vengeance. Unraveling the secret cause of the hatred between them becomes a sinister game of hide-and-seek in which Baltimore is both stage and player. How did the violence in the city's streets become the organized anarchy that was the Baltimore Orioles of the early 1890's? How did two such brutal men become entangled with one of Baltimore's most refined families, the Vonderhorsts?