The epic story behind the Cherokee Trail of Tears, Red Clay, Running Waters follows the little-known lives of John Ridge, a Cherokee man dedicated to his people, and his White wife Sarah, a woman devoted to his search for justice, as the courageous mixed-race couple are swept into the center of the Indian Removal Crisis of the 1830s and the fate of the Cherokee Nation.

In 1824 John Ridge, promising son of a Cherokee leader, returns from his New England education with his White bride, Sarah Northrop, burning to defend his people's rights and realize the dream of an independent Cherokee Nation. Peace at home evades when tensions rise between the Southern states and the federal government, pulling the Ridges into the crossfire of a divided country on the brink of civil war. Faced with expulsion from their homeland, with options eroding, and Andrew Jackson in office, John and Sarah must forge a path to defend the Cherokee people and the sovereignty of their Nation in the midst of tyranny and deceit.

A timely saga of one family's search for justice, this true story of profound love, sacrifice, and the meaning of home weaves the complex strands of politics, race, religion, and love into the tapestry of the turbulent Antebellum times before the Trail of Tears.