For years, Serepta McClean has towered over the coal-filled hills of West Virginia, taking more than her share of legal and illegal trade alike. Few dare to stand against her. Especially not someone like Colman Harpe - a railroad man with dreams of being a preacher. And yet it's a reluctant Colman, Serepta's sworn enemy, who finds himself in this powerful woman's territory, supposedly sent there by God himself to share stories of love and hope. With things growing ever more dangerous, putting the entire region at risk, these two impossibly different people find themselves on a collision course. And the very lives of everyone close to them will be changed forever.