A simple assignment to escort a young woman from Louisville, Kentucky to Washington City proves far more interesting and difficult than Merritt and Argent first thought. An astonishing array of delays points to both plain bad luck and deeper, murkier forces at work. In short, if something could happen, it did happen. And what were the men to make of Mary Warner, the young woman with multiple names and even more contradictions and surprises? Reconstruction, railroads, the C&O Canal, counterfeiting, and the Secret Service all play a part in this 600-mile odyssey, a three-day trip that becomes a month-long journey.