Chad Gritt, the lanky, blue eyed, former Civil War naval officer once thought of himself as a hero, that is until a rescue mission turned into a bloodbath. Now he is content to captain a ship carrying heroes on their mission. That is until the enemy sinks his ship and throws the soft-spoken recluse into leading survivors across a thousand miles of Mexican Civil War that makes the American Civil War look tame.

It's 1865 and the War Between the States is almost over. In Mexico, a far more brutal civil war is reaching a turning point. President Lincoln's advisors and most of Congress favor using Civil War military power to intervene in the Mexican War as a prelude to annexing the country. Lincoln himself has intervened in the Mexican conflict where his move is distrusted by those he seeks to help and hated by the other side. He is also plotting with Russia to purchase Alaska in hopes of heading off American troops invading their southern neighbor.

As part of his efforts to head off a foreign war that the American public doesn't support, Lincoln and Secretary of State, William Seward send a clandestine exploration team to the Pacific. The explorers are shocked to find that one of Seward's own lieutenants is plotting against their mission, a mission made more critical when the U S Treasury entrusts millions in California gold to them. Gold that the collapsing Confederacy plans on stealing to support Southern Officers who have lost everything. Sinking Gritt's ship is critical to their effort.

The explorers begin burying their own one at a time. No one they meet can be trusted in a country where everyone is a pawn to be played, killed, or sold. Will help come from the colorful captain of the only ship of the Free State of Jones, or from one of two beautiful Mexican women; one passionately involved in Mexico's conflict and the other fleeing it?