Philip Hess is a young medical student from Kentucky, among the first to volunteer his services when the US joins the fight during World War 1. However, the monstrous things he sees on the front lines shock him to the core and leave him a hollow man in the aftermath, struggling to recover normalcy for his young family’s sake. A chance encounter with a man Philip rescued from inexplicable circumstances in 1917 cause Philip’s attempts at burying his past to capcize. The further he wades into Salem Whittaker’s orbit, the closer he comes to answers that threaten to drown him.