Abel Truman lives at the very edge of the country, in a tiny shack overlooking the ocean in Washington state. His piece of land is known as “Broken Man Cove,” and Abel is indeed broken, still traumatized by the Civil War over thirty years after the last shots were fired. Although he has left the South behind, he is haunted by memories of the Rebel friends he lost in the battle of the Wilderness. Thinking it might be time to head back East, Abel and his faithful dog set off on the journey on foot.

But Abel is a sick man, and his dog isn’t faring much better. When they are targeted by two bandits, Abel has little hope of surviving. But he is saved, again and again, by the generosity of strangers along the way. Abel realizes the true purpose of his journey: to help others, as strangers have always helped him—from the runaway slaves who doctored his wounds during the war to the interracial couple who offer him shelter through the winter in a Washington farmhouse. Abel dedicates the waning days of his life to rescuing a Chinese family trapped by heavy snow and threatened by the same bandits who terrorized Abel and his dog. Though no longer a soldier, Abel’s last march is a dangerous trek down the mountain to save Jane Dao-ming, a little girl who will remember Abel’s generosity long into the twentieth century.