Born to the sixteen-year-old Ruth, Joab Johnson is the third generation to be raised in a fatherless home. After getting his high school girlfriend pregnant, Joab enters college with a wife and baby. There he meets the beautiful and independant Lesa Shemisaki. Seduced by the glamor and privilege of Lesa's world, Joab's children seem destined to lose their father until. Joab's daughter pays the price for a bad drug deal. Now Joab is mad - mad enough to fight to reclaim his family. Then, Joab makes a decision that will change the course of their lives and the course of a nation.