It is September 1862, the bloody Civil War rages on. In the Cold Spring section of Otis one of the worse crimes In Western Massachusetts history is committed. While on a berry picking outing one late summer day, a young mother is raped and murdered, her two children ages 2 and 4 years bludgeoned to death. A wet behind the ears Deputy Sheriff Wesley Langdon is solving 011 poor, family. governor of the state, a nationally recognized abolitionist with eyes on an office in Washington D.C., takes a personal and political interest in the case. Wesley quickly learns that the investigation, influenced by politics, current events, and a changing social landscape, further muddied by his own emotional baggage, will be a complicated affair. Can real justice prevail?