Aaron Burr was a hero of the Revolution, a brilliant politician, lawyer, and nearly president; a survivor in a raw new country filled with constantly shifting loyalties. Sold into slavery as a child in India, Mary Emmons was brought to an America torn by war. She quickly gains the trust of her new mistress, Theodosia Prevost, and becomes indispensable in a household filled with intrigue
especially when the now-widowed Theodosia marries Colonel Aaron Burr. As Theodosia sickens with the fatal disease that will finally kill her, Mary and Burr are drawn together into a private world of power and passion, and a secret, tangled union that would have shocked the nation.