Hattie Sexton, at well over a hundred years old, is a mountain legend and mistress of the black arts. In her final days, she sends for reporter John March, intending to clear her conscience and tell her multifaceted story of growing up among the Melungeons of Appalachia—with a giant as a brother.

March finds himself mesmerized by a unique tale of retribution, replete with hill mannerisms and quirks and characters both fearsome and wonderful. In the end, Hattie Sexton turns out to be living (and dying) proof that “turnabout is fair play” and “revenge is best served cold.” In her case, stone-cold dead.