Jedidiah Robbins is a man on a crusade. From town to town, his Gospel
train rides the rails of 1920s Appalachia, spreading the Good News with
his daughter and a loyal group of roustabouts in tow. But Jedidiah's
traveling revival company has a secret: in addition to offering the
gifts of the Holy Spirit, it also delivers spirits of another kind.
Prohibition is in full swing, but The Sword of the Lord train keeps
the speakeasies in the towns it visits in business by providing the best
that mountain stills have to offer. While beyond the gaze of federal
agents, the operation eventually runs afoul of an overzealous small town
sheriff and a corrupt judge, setting in motion a series of events that
could land them all in chains. Told with haunting lyricism, this is the
story of a preacher full of contradictions, a man for whom the way is
never straight and narrow. It bends like the river, a river that leads
him in the paths of a different brand of righteousness--and perhaps even
to salvation.