150 years ago, in the unreconstructed south, a group of powerful families form an organization for the protection of the old plantation way of life. In a climactic moment of terror, they murder a man who shouldn't exist, a man whose very life could change history. Then the group vanishes into time. 150 years later, young idealist Will Benning discovers his own family's involvement with this group. Horrified, Benning flees his Southern home and heads...