Attorney James Reynolds has dealt with personal demons his entire life-raised in the shadow of Deep South racism, plagued by recurring nightmares, and nursing a few too many Jack Daniels late at night. But he has still managed to become the only black prosecutor in Jackson, Mississippi. However, the unsteady peace in his life is broken when white men start turning up dead. The victims are the same men who, in the 1960s, were caught killing blacks, yet shockingly, were subsequently acquitted by all-white juries. Thirty years later, the unpunished whites are being murdered in the same manner as their victims. Now Reynolds has been assigned the toughest case of his life: He must prosecute the prime suspect—Martin Matheson, brilliant professor, son of a venerated Civil Rights leader, and newly appointed folk hero for thousands of African-Americans hungry for retribution. Stigmatized by his church and community as an Uncle Tom, Reynolds must break through the massive media blitz and mounting racial tensions to determine the truth. Most troublesome of all, he must search his own soul to determine where justice ends and vengeance begins.