There is no honor among thieves.

We've all heard the phrase. But this is not always so...

Stephen Hue was a bandit in the wild days of the 1830s American West, preying along Mississippi's Natchez Trace.

Now he is an old man, but he holds a grisly relic of those violent times, something a rival of the legendary showman P.T. Barnum is also after. This rival's agent has tracked it down, desperate to acquire it. Before Stephen hands it over, however, he insists on telling the true tale of the original owner of the relic, his friend John Murrell, The Great Western Land Pirate, and his Mystic Clan.

From their first meeting as kids at Buzzard's Roost, a wayward boy's home on The Trace, Stephen tells of his adventures with John, including mixing in with the likes of Madame Ma Surgick and her collection of scoundrels, falling in love with one of her girls, their hair-raising escape from a murderous brute.

Years later they reunite on the Mississippi River at Natchez Under-The-Hill, John now the head of a growing crime syndicate. The son of a road preacher, John has honed his ability to captivate people with sermons while his gang steals their horses - and whatever else they can get their hands on. With Stephen's experience navigating the river with his keelboat, they begin building Clan Mystic, an underworld empire that extends up and down The Trace. Defying all odds, including relentless pursuit by vicious self-appointed river lawmen, John envisions going beyond even that...