Natchez, Mississippi, once had more millionaires per capita than any other American city, its wealth built on slavery and cotton. Much has changed since the Civil War, and now it is a microcosm of the South in transition. Richard Grant visits Natchez residents like Buzz Harper, a six-foot-five gay antiques dealer with a uniformed manservant; Ginger Hyland, who decorated 168 Christmas trees with her jewelry; and Nellie Jackson, a brothel madam and FBI informant. He tells their stories with good humor and insight, while recounting that of Abd al Rahman Ibrahima, an enslaved West African prince who became a cause célèbre in the 1820s, eventually gaining his freedom and returning to Africa.