Three and a half years as a Confederate soldier and another year and a half in a prisoner of war stockade had made Jack Salter wonder at times if he'd even survive. When the war was over he was released and made a bee line for home. Vicksburg Mississippi. The only family he had left a cousin named Odell had taken care of his few possessions, a pair of mules and an old wagon while he was gone. After trying to talk his cousin into it without luck, Jack said goodbye to him and Vicksburg and headed west. Just west no place in particular. He found all he hoped for out there and more when he meets a young widow and her son and falls in love. Will a Mississippi farm boy and ex-soldier be enough for them.