"Colonel Miltiades Vaiden, a decorated Civil War Confederate officer, former overseer of Crowninshield plantation and head of local KKK chapter, personal and economic trials and tribulations during the Reconstruction period. The title, "The Store", is symbolic of Col. Milt's ethical and economic transition from post war poverty to economic independence, set against the "old plantation" culture. The novel describes in blunt language, the cultural stress the old plantation society and former slaves have in adjusting to the post war reconstruction."