Set in Tennessee, A New Chapter revolves around Senator Gideon Taylor who returns in June 1885 from the state legislature in Nashville to his hometown, Braxton Springs. Despite the impressive economic prosperity and health care reforms he has helped pass in the legislature for his region during his consecutive terms in the legislature, he returns home burdened with the obstacles radicals have created in the senate against the freedmen. At an impasse politically where his work against the poll tax in particular is concerned, he finds his problems complicated at home with personal twists and turns that lead him ultimately to a turbulent but satisfying conclusion. A New Chapter effortlessly draws readers into the political intrigue while enamoring them with the quaint Tennessee town of Braxton Springs.