Like other high school juniors, Dante appeared to have it all, good grades, friends, a close family. But there was a darker side. As a biracial black kid living in an affluent Atlanta neighborhood, Dante struggled to find his place in a world fixated on social labels. That is, until a brief misstep in a downtown mall sent him traveling back in time to witness firsthand the darkest chapter in America's history. While observing the inexplicable brutality connected with the 1860 US Slave Trade, Dante quickly discovers he is woefully ill prepared for the challenges facing a nation bracing for civil war. With the assistance of a mysterious mall shop owner intimately familiar with the Slave Trade, Dante receives help navigating, not just the physical and political terrain of 1861 America, but his own emotional landscape that has for years threatened to overtake him. Forced to witness the evils, trials and surprising compassion leading up to the US Civil War, Dante must now confront his own fears and overcome the challenges associated with living as a young black man in a severely divided country.