After sailing from Dublin to New York at the age of fifteen, Kathleen O'Neil meets and marries happy-go-lucky John McDougal. A trip across the American West becomes a journey through tragedy, giving root to her new resolve never to depend on anyone other than herself. When John goes off to fight in Europe during World War I, he leaves her stranded in the Georgia hill country with a young son. Looking for a way to survive, Kathleen finds the quickest way to money is through moonshine whiskey, brewed from a method she learned in Ireland. Clandestine deals with greedy sheriffs, judges, and gangsters make it easy to sidestep the law. A reckless romance with a G-man who comes to arrest her ends with his death and the murder of an innocent boy. Kathleen escapes to Florida, only to have the past and its consequences find her there years later. When World War II threatens to take her two sons from her, she will do anything to keep that from happening. To make sure her dreams come true, she must destroy those of people she loves.