In 1863, the USS Albemarle, transporting a shipment of gold to the Mexican government of Benito Juarez, meets with an accident at sea and sinks. After a series of thefts and murders the gold is deposited down a sinkhole in Hardenton, Florida, where it remains for 145 years. Phil Dreyfus and his sister Lacy, who have purchased part of an old family farm at the Withlacoochee Bend, find the gold while searching for a good well. Before Phil can return the gold to the government, his hired hand kills him and steals the gold while a government satellite watches. The thieves escape, pursued by government 'troubleshooters, ' who have their act together, and by two Mafia button men, who don't. Stu Forbes, a direct descendant of the Confederate captain who transported the gold and died in the process, picks up the narration and starts connecting the dots. The true goal of the government troubleshooters is recovering a letter from Benito Juarez to Abraham Lincoln that would give the United States a legal claim on Mexico.