When Marine Mac "Quarry" Conway returns home to Memphis in 1972 after fighting in Vietnam, he finds that he has been shunned by his loved ones and demonized by the public. Upon his return stateside, Quarry struggles to cope with what he experienced and witnessed while at war and readapt to civilian life. As he struggles to make ends meet financially, Quarry gets drawn into a network of killing and corruption that extends throughout the length of the Mississippi River, and The Broker -- the cunning, secretive crime boss who runs the operation -- takes a special interest in him.