A Savannah native approaching retirement from a medical career returns home to write his sabbatical book about how some physicians find resilience and avoid burnout. Instead, he discovers echoes of the most disruptive of modern cultural divides in Savannah's past. An encounter with Mae, a mysterious Gullah woman, takes him into magical adventures covering almost 3 centuries based in the historic landmarks of his hometown. The sights, sounds, history, and smells of Savannah are irresistible, and qualify the town as a full-fledged character in this story. He ventures to partake of some of Mae's root doctor tea and is propelled into dreamscapes that blur time and reality. During one of these walkabouts, he meets the Irish immigrant builder of the Bay Street retaining wall that allowed Savannah to develop into one of the busiest Atlantic seaports in the 1860s.
The narrator discovers that the daily life and livelihood of the new Irish immigrants are intricately interwoven with those of the West Africans, both enslaved and newly freed, who share the same neighborhoods. As his epic task materializes, he must mend a major rift between these two groups to allow them to work together. Failure would destroy Savannah's potential to flourish as a key Southern port city. He is reminded that understanding the beliefs that define evil and provide for management of societal fear is fundamental to overcome the sense of "the other" that permeates cultural divides even to modern times. This results in fantastic encounters with Irish fairies and changelings and Hoodoo talismen and curses that frame how the two cultures cope with the fevers taking their children. Guided by a multiracial lay nurse with roots in each culture, he charts a path of resolution that has much to teach about modern culture war issues.