Publisher's Synopsis
Ohio, 1838. James and Sadie Goodenough have settled in the Black Swamp, planting apple trees to claim the land as their own. Life is hard, and as fever picks off their children, husband and wife take solace in separate comforts. James patiently grows his crop, while Sadie gets drunk on applejack, as their fighting takes its toll on the family. Fifteen years later their youngest son, Robert, is drifting through Gold Rush California and haunted by the broken family he fled. But the past is never really past, and one day Robert is forced to confront the brutal reason he left behind everything he loved.
