Captured in the last year of the Civil War, Lucas Cain is a POW in the infamous Andersonville prison. There, he learns how to survive the cruelty of the Confederate guards and the perfidy of others who are prisoners themselves.

When the war ends, he and almost 1,500 others crowd aboard the riverboat Sultana, which has a capacity of just under 400 passengers. When tragedy strikes, Lucas finds himself further adrift. Returning home to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, he becomes a police officer, where he finds an unexpected love interest in a journalist who works for the Cape Girardeau newspaper.

But as Lucas finds himself no longer able to remain in Cape Girardeau, he begins a western drift. Rambling without a specific destination and becoming a bounty hunter, he ventures into the untamed West...where the call of the open road just may lead him to wander forever.