Twelve days after the assassination of President Lincoln, the fictitious character Rummy Joe Greene, an embittered Confederate, sabotages the Mississippi riverboat "Sultana". The real-life explosion of the Sultana occurred near Memphis causing the deaths of approximately 1800 Union soldiers. To this day, it remains the worst maritime disaster ever in American waters.

The saboteur evades discovery and winds up in Charleston. For the next thirty-three years, he travels the Carolina coast, leading a life of debauchery and sewing seeds of hatred against Blacks and Yankees. He vows, "The South will rise again!"

Rummy Joe becomes a night-riding Klansman. He is proud to be a torching, lynching, vote-rigging supporter of white supremacism. He calls himself the Swamp Stud and frequents brothels, deserted beaches, and posh resorts in search of available women. Early on, he has a chance encounter with two Black teenagers, a boy and a girl, that ends in violence. Their mysterious disappearance has a profound effect on the young girl's grandfather, a former slave. The elderly Black man reluctantly accepts the reality that they must be dead. He is determined to find the culprit and to seek revenge for the children's deaths.

Through the eyes of its fictitious main characters and many real-life characters, the story reveals the towns, rivers, people and politics of 19th century North and South Carolina, exposing the perverse racism that existed at all levels of society. Rummy's dramatic grand finale occurs in the backdrop of a real-life coup d'etat led by White supremacists in North Carolina's then- largest town. This event was a shameful blemish in the history of North Carolina that was hidden for many decades.