Fanny McCoy has lived in fear and anger ever since that day in 1878 when
a dispute with the Hatfields over the ownership of a few pigs set her
family on a path of hatred and revenge. From that day forward, along the
ragged ridges of the West Virginia-Kentucky line, the Hatfields and the
McCoys have operated not withing the law but within mountain codes of
their own making. In 1882, when Fanny's sister Roseanna runs off with
young Johnse Hatfield, the hatred between the two clans explodes.
As the killings, abductions, raids, and heartbreak escalate bitterly and
senselessly, Fanny, the sole voice of reason, realizes that she is
powerless to stop the fighting and must learn to rise above the petty
natures of her family and neighbors to find her own way out of the
hatred.