Kerry Kilcannon, newly elected U.S. president, faces a major decision early in his administration with the sudden death of the chief justice. The court is sharply divided and the president is determined to nominate Caroline Masters as new chief justice. But Senate Majority Leader Macdonald Gage and Sen. Chad Palmer hold the key to the appointment. Both hope to succeed Kilcannon, who has made a hidden alliance with Palmer, a military hero known for his political independence.
National attention is drawn to the controversial case by widespread television attention.
The dangers are clear to those involved, including the politicized appellate court on which the president's choice for chief justice serves. There are powerful forces willing to use any means necessary to defeat the nomination. When the Oklahoma Indian Territory was opened to settlers in the late 1800s, it looked like the Promised Land to black Americans, and they migrated there, developing prosperous all-black towns. With the oil boom of the early 1900s, however, whites poured in, hoping to strike it rich in black gold. In her present comfortable life, she is learning to deny her own hardscrabble past on the Deep Fork River.