In April 1848, Preacher Paul Crane rides into a lonesome Appalachian town and kills Ellen Bridges, a widow-woman whose music he believes to be witchcraft, by throwing her into a well. A group of children, including her grandson, Carter, push him in after to avenge her murder. As the preacher disappears into the darkness, he curses the children, the town, and the mountains where they live. Eight of the children grow up to survive the American Civil War, only to find they now face both a historical and a magical curse. A year from the end of the war, April 1866, as the moon waxes full, each of the survivors finds their destiny.