In the years following the Civil War, Mariah Reddick, former slave to Carrie McGavock --- the "Widow of the South" --- has quietly built a new life for herself as a midwife to the women of Franklin, Tennessee. But when her ambitious, politically minded grown son, Theopolis, is murdered, Mariah --- no stranger to loss --- finds her world once more breaking apart. How could this happen? Who wanted him dead? Mariah's journey to uncover the truth leads her to unexpected people --- including George Tole, a recent arrival to town, fleeing a difficult past of his own --- and forces her to confront the truths of her own past.