Racial tensions run high, and the price of freedom comes at a heavy price for those brave enough to pursue equal rights in 1960s rural South Carolina. A black man's anger over being asked to give up his place in line turns fatal when Deputy Ralph Manley, a crony of the local Ku Klux Klan, shoots him in public. A group of civil rights advocates who call themselves the Manse Kitchen Gang push the mayor to have Manley arrested but lack faith in a local government influenced by local KKK Imperial Wizard James "Red" Cross. Ron Guy, head teacher at the Citizenship School, where black citizens are taught how to register to vote, struggles over whether the violence deserves a more radical response but holds true to the group's nonviolent ways. He and fellow advocates find promise when they discover state law enforcement is investigating, but just how many more will die before they win the fight? John Hamby, author of Freedom of Choice and Freedom to Choose, returns with Freedom Across the River, the third novel in his trilogy focused on the struggle for racial equality in 1960s South Carolina.