The McMasters plot
"After the wedding... they were given a real fine reception."
After Benjie, a black man who fought in the Civil War, returns to the Confederate town of Ironside, he is not really welcomed. The residents are already struggling with his skin color, but the fact that he fought for the Union troops creates enormous problems. Especially the hate-mongering and violent ex-soldier Kolby stirs up the hatred. Benjie's only friend is Neal McMasters, the rancher who raised Benjie and now gives him half of his land. Benjie tries to start a new life, he helps some hungry Indians and becomes "owner" of a Native American woman, who eventually becomes his wife. But things come to a violent explosion when Kolby's hatred causes huge problems among the blacks, whites and Indians.