"GRAY NEVER FADES" begins in 1700 with the Watford family patriarch as a stowaway, jumping ship and adapting to life in the Florida Panhandle. The saga continues with his son William. It follows a boy of sixteen from the time he leaves home, reaches manhood and fights in the Revolutionary War. For his notable role in the war, he received a military warrant for a section of land the South Alabama; land which became the family farm.

The story picks up in 1865 at the end of the Civil War following the Confederate capitulation. Ordered to surrender, William's great grandson, Otis, a Confederate Officer, defied orders and headed home to the farm. However, the risks and hardships were unexpectedly compounded. Union soldiers posted rewards for the capture of Confederate Renegades and threatened severe punishment for those found aiding and abetting the same. Still wearing gray, Captain Otis' trip home became far more perilous.