The year is 1866. Doctor James V. Dougherty and Medical Steward Sean McBrien (whose earlier adventures you can find in "The Haystack") are now discharged from the Union Army and live in Penrose Valley in Carbon County, Pennsylvania. Dougherty is now married to Genevieve Collingwood, whom he had met just after the battle of Antietam. McBrien is now the pharmacist in town. In the aftermath of the war there is an increase in manufacturing, which also demands an increase in fuel, making this anthracite region of Pennsylvania an essential part of the economy. The mines are owned and operated by increasingly larger companies with headquarters in the large cities and sometimes even in Europe. The labor force is drawn from the seemingly endless supply of immigrants struggling to eke out a living in this new nation. In their effort to fight against their exploitation by the industrialists, they are unsuccessful in forming labor unions and so are drawn more and more to the use of violence. The mine owners are just as willing to use violence of their own, often under the guise of lawful response. It is in within this context that Dougherty, called to assist after a mine cave-in, discovers the body of a man who should not have been in the mine at all. The effects of the dead man include some horrifying information about a killer who has apparently been at work for some years during the war. Evidence points to the fact that he is now in Penrose Valley. All that Dougherty and McBrien have to go on is a collection of letters and newspaper articles, through which it seems impossible to identify the killer. Nonetheless, they do contain information that can lead to his capture, if it can be deciphered. Their effort to do so puts them and others at risk of becoming additional victims of the killer who has become known as The Butcher.