| Chapter | Summary |
|---|---|
| Prologue | Confrontation between Jesse and revenuers; Dixie finds mandolin |
| Ch. 1 | Discovery of baby and shooting; Flood and Prohibition background; Meeting with Hoover |
| Ch. 2 | Dixie Clay in town with Amity; missing revenuers; Flashback to death and burial of Jacob |
| Ch. 3 | Ingersoll takes baby to Greenville then Hobnob; Flashback to childhood in orphanage and hemangioma |
| Ch. 4 | Dixie Clay searches for bodies of revenuers. Flashback to Jesse and Dixie Clay wedding and early days together; Finds Ing with baby |
| Ch. 5 | Boardinghouse; Ingersoll meets Ham with Jesse at McMahon's diner |
| Ch. 6 | Willy; hummingbird; Flashback to childhood/meeting Jesse then Sugar Hill/married life; new car; realization Jesse is bootlegger; boat – Jeannette; pregnancy (Jacob) Jesse is two people, but she only married one of him. |
| Ch. 7 | Boardinghouse bananas; Ham buys a pair of boots, each foot in a different size; Ing examines levee; thinks about Dixie Clay and baby; Flashback to Lizzie Looey and the Lo-Downs and enlistment; Worries about levee; Jesse, doughnuts, and shine; Ingersoll learns Dixie Clay is Jesse's wife |
| Ch. 8 | Willy as Dixie Clay's best friend; No praying after Jacob, but now praying to keep Willy; Jesse – change recipe/Mookie (and his back story) – Mookie's pass at Dixie Clay; Black Lightning label – everyone buys/status symbol |
| Ch. 9 | No more bananas; Flashback to Chris in war and working with Ham--KKK minister up to the flood; Learn of stolen explosives; Ham tells Ing to find Jesse's home; Ingersoll keeping secret that he has been there; Flashback to naming babies; sees Dixie Clay and Willy, finds still, and realizes Dixie Clay is moonshiner |
| Ch. 10 | Dixie Clay dreams of being lynched; Willy sick, Dixie Clay tries to get ride to town; Ingersoll arrives to help, tells Dixie Clay about Ham and owls; confronts Dixie Clay about being a moonshiner, destroys mandolin. |
| Ch. 11 | Ham confronts Ingersoll; reports on killing saboteur, Ham's federal license discovered; Ingersoll confesses to Ham about Dixie Clay; Has let Ham down; Flashback to meeting Ham during war; Dead-Eye Orphan; Ham orders Ingersoll to report to Captain Trudo; Ingersoll helps move furniture, sees Mookey's body, and meets Captain Trudo; jailed |
| Ch. 12 | Dixie Clay sees Mookie; confronted by Ham; Ham asks if Ingersoll talked about him; Owls as portent |
| Ch. 13 | Ingersoll makes instrument and sings in jail; Flashback to meeting Skinny Nellie in Paris; Ham arrives and gets Ingersoll released; Captain apparently warns Jesse |
| Ch. 14 | Dixie Clay realizes Jesse will blow up levee; goes home to flee; confronted by drunken Jesse and Jeannette; Dixie Clay beaten, tied, and left to die in flood; Jeannette takes Willy |
| Ch. 15 | Ham and Ingersoll guard levee; Ingersoll sees Jesse put sandbag on levee; Ham makes owl sounds to catch Ingersoll's attention; Jesse tries to drive away, but Ham has sabotaged his car; Burl fires on levee from hotel; Ham chases Jesse while Ingersoll goes after Burl; levee explodes; Ingersoll takes boat to get Dixie Clay and baby |
| Ch. 16 | Dixie frees herself, flees flood; thinks about loss of Jacob's grave; sees Marvin while in tree, then Ingersoll rescues her; Ingersoll fills Dixie Clay in on events; She tells him about Mookie and Burl; they make love on Indian mound |
| Ch. 17 | Dixie Clay tells Ingersoll she knew he would come; Ingersoll sets Dixie's broken arm; Ingersoll trades badge and Medal of Honor for gas and food |
| Ch. 18 | Ingersoll helps Dixie "remember" Willy; they arrive in Greenville where first they plan to find police, but then take Dixie to hospital where they find Jeannette and Willy; escape with Willy |
| Ch. 19 | They buy new clothes; Ingersoll tapes Dixie Clay's broken ribs; they stop at rib restaurant; Ingersoll leaves Dixie there to find Ham; gets note that Ham is at rib place; arrives back; each tell the others their stories – death of Jesse; Ham invents tale of death of Ingersoll and Dixie Clay; Ham decides to return to KY or D.C. |
| Epilogue | Hobnob far behind, entering Arkansas; plans to settle in Ozarks; Dixie Clay thinks about life with Ingersoll, growing vegetables, and the story she will tell Willy. |
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