After years of civil war, the genius of Edgar Allan Poe is nearing its breaking point. Poe has devoted himself to the Confederacy, but his dreams of honor and glory have been drowned in blood and slaughter. Anguished, tortured by memories of his dead wife and his dead hopes, he finds himself holding a key position against Grant�s assault, and must decide whether to sacrifice all he loves in service to a dying cause . . .