The young couple, Jim and Lil Rutherford, has left North Carolina in search of the perfect place to settle down and raise a family. They finally reach the Mississippi River and claim their land, build a tiny cabin and begin the hard work. They soon discover that they are not alone in the wilderness and meet their nearest neighbor, Dr. James Travis. They also learn there is a settlement a few miles down the river called Lonsdale, a place that is fast becoming full of greed and corruption. They survive an Indian attack. As time passes, Jim & Dr. Travis build the largest plantations along the river. Tennessee becomes a state in 1896 and Jim is elected to serve in the First Assembly. He travels to the capitol where he meets the governor, John Sevier, and another politician, Andrew Jackson. While there Jim gets into trouble, fights a duel, survives and goes back home to a wife who is very upset with him over untrue rumors she has heard. Indians take their only son, who is left paralyzed when he is thrown off a bluff. After the Louisiana Purchase, Jim takes his family down river to New Orleans to meet with French doctors. The climax of the book is the giant earthquake of 1811, which destroys Lonsdale and its evil and creates Reelfoot Lake near Jim's plantation. The Mighty Mississippi flows backward! "The damn Turncoat!"