Alan Ramsey, the protagonist of An Uncertain Peace, is a former Union officer. He was badly wounded in 1864 when Sherman took Atlanta. He has remained in Atlanta, thinking it might be the place where his past and future might one day intersect. A reporter before the war, he now works at the Atlanta Intelligencer, the city’s leading newspaper. He acts as an informal liaison between the civic authorities and those in the Union army charged with keeping the peace in the conquered city.
At the point when this selection takes place, Ramsey has been helping Deputy Marshall Ed Sprague investigate events surrounding a man run down on the railroad tracks. The victim was clearly dead before being left there. In the midst of their investigation, he receives a request for his help.