An attempted murder one dark night on the river disrupted the lives of two families and deeply affected the lives of two individuals from those same two families for the next five years. They had been forced to make choices that took them far apart before being serendipitously brought together once more. The would-be murderers, three of them, lost one of their own soon after that night from wounds he had received at the hands of their intended victim. Three years later, a second of them fortuitously became the victim of that same man they would have killed. The third and last one, attempting to recover the failing fortunes of the family in a poker game on the river, saw the means to cheat his opponent and at the same time to be rid of his sister who had unexpectedly shown up again. His first attempt on her life as they had travelled upriver had failed, and a second attempt would be difficult now that she expected it and now that she had a protector. He saw another way to be rid of her: in a poker game where he would wager her away. If only it could be that simple. He had no idea the trouble he would cause by that act. The unexpected outcome of that game brought two individuals closer together and eventually healed the initial disruption that had seen them torn apart five years earlier.