Set during the early years of the Civil War, a Southern bounty hunter tracks down a fugitive who's escaped to the North as the United States tears itself apart. The further he ventures, the more danger he puts himself in being a citizen of the Confederacy, along with the true motive for apprehending his prey.

SYNOPSIS:

Received a consider from Wheelhouse Writing Retreats. Leigh Jefferson, a bounty hunter from Texas, is tracking down a fugitive in the Carolinas just as the Civil War opens. Eventually, he learns from slaves working in Washington, D.C. that the fugitive has headed north. Leigh finds his prey at a Maine train station. It’s revealed that the fugitive is actually an escaped slave named Thaddeus seeking refuge in Canada. As they travel, Thaddeus relates how he was the house slave who killed the plantation master, despite being given far more privileges and education than other slaves. Further on, the war catches up with them and Thaddeus leads Leigh into waiting Union soldiers. A firefight breaks out and Leigh uses his superior gunslinging skills to almost best the troops. Thaddeus nearly kills Leigh once again, but he’s saved by a patrol of Confederate soldiers. The Confederates introduce Leigh to William Quantrill and his band of raiders, who promise safe passage into Texas. As all of them head down south, they come across a town of Union loyalists. Quantrill orders his men to raid the town and Leigh to rob a bank with two other raiders; brothers Frank and Jesse James. The brothers and Leigh violently take over the bank while the town is massacred. Leigh, disgusted, attempts to leave with Thaddeus but is unable to due to Thaddeus being lynched by some of Quantrill’s men. Leigh duels the men and almost wins, but is wounded by one of them. Thaddeus saves Leigh from being killed and, at gunpoint, takes Leigh by horse to a local doctor. Once recuperated, Leigh learns a disingenuous slave catcher called Dylan absconded with Thaddeus from some Confederate Home Guard who’re guided by a cruel, corrupt man called Cullen and tricked into believing Leigh’s a Confederate deserter. Leigh fights off the Home Guard then hurriedly escapes the town. In the Louisiana bayou, Thaddeus recollects how he eventually killed his master, Drew Braithwaite. Thaddeus is actually his bastard son, the product of Drew repeatedly raping Thaddeus’ slave mother, Athena. She escaped the plantation alone, leaving Thaddeus behind. Thaddeus covertly cuts his hand, smears blood on a blanket and places it near Dylan while he sleeps, who’s killed by an alligator attracted to the scent. Apprehended yet again by Leigh, sometime later he and Thaddeus are ambushed by the Home Guard in an above ground cemetery. Knowing they’re both mutual enemies of them, Leigh and Thaddeus decide to become allies to fight off the Home Guard. Leigh’s gun hand is seriously injured in the process, whereupon the Home Guard surround them. Suddenly, a group of runaway slaves appear and kill the Home Guard. The runways leave and Thaddeus is about to kill Leigh himself, but Leigh wounds Thaddeus with a hidden Dillinger pistol, distracting Thaddeus by revealing his knowledge of his mother’s whereabouts. Leigh and Thaddeus finally return to the Texas plantation, but the new master, Ignatius, refuses to pay Leigh. The war has put strains on the economy and Ignatius promises to pay Leigh back once the Confederacy has won. Thaddeus is enslaved for the time being and Leigh returns empty handed.

NORTH STAR