While he is working as a technical advisor for a South Korean firm, Mac Arnold is kidnapped by the North Korean government and forced to work in prison camps for twenty years. Finally, he escapes from North Korea and returns to his home town of Glade Rock, Arkansas. He intends to build the new life he has dreamed of for so many years as a prisoner in North Korea, but he discovers that the life of a free man is much more unpredictable than he expected it to be. The sweetheart of his childhood has been married, divorced, and has fallen in love with a local rancher. Mac has no job prospects and must discover a way to rebuild his life. His life as a young man has left him a decidedly mixed legacy which he must learn to appreciate and embrace in his new life. His bondage to his years in North Korea is not yet over.