The country was young for a farmer named Davis Hallam. In 1790, a hard life grew unendurable when he was accused of killing his wife. Forced into the life of a fugitive, he fled his home and family and signed on to a crew that was widening the legendary Wilderness Road that would run from southwestern Virginia, across the mountains, and into the hinterlands of Kentucky. For a while Davis managed to lose himself in the back-breaking labor, even finding love and adventure along the way, but in the end, he would be forced to confront the past and tie together the loose ends of the life he had let fall along the Wilderness Road.