On a sultry summer night in 1915, Jay Follet leaves his house in Knoxville, Tennessee, to tend to his father, whom he believes is dying. The summons turns out to be a false alarm, but on his way back to his family, Jay has a car accident and is killed instantly, leaving his wife, brother, and young son to deal with his sudden death.

Investigating a suspicious death in which the victim's remains were found in a burned car, forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton engages in an unorthodox experiment to better understand the case.

Raised in the hills of Tennessee, Emma Simms dreams of the day she'll escape her life of poverty to start over in the excitement of Knoxville. But when her mother dies and she's left with no one but her stepfather, Luke Simms, her dream abruptly becomes a nightmare. Luke plans to send Emma to Knoxville alright-straight to a notorious brothel. River Joe, the mysterious Cherokee-raised frontiersman, knew from the first time he set eyes on the beautiful...