Though Joetta McBride ignores it, there is a constant drumbeat of talk about approaching war throughout North Carolina. Her husband, Ennis, and her have established a humble yet contented life for themselves. They are raising their two sons, Henry, 15, and Robert, 11, on a tiny subsistence farm. Although Joetta's family disagrees with the Confederacy's stance on slavery, she sees them as impartial because they don't see this as their battle.
Many people in their neighbourhood, including Joetta's own father-in-law, Rudean, disagree with her viewpoint. An ardent advocate of the Confederacy, he instills in his grandsons a sense of the grandeur of combat and the Southern cause, until one night Henry decides to enlist in the army. Ennis departs at Joetta's desperate pleas to locate their son
But soon, weeks go by with neither the father nor the son responding, and Joetta is worn down from the stress of managing a farm with so little assistance. Joetta finds herself increasingly at odds with everyone around her as the nation grows more and more enmeshed in the aftereffects of war—until one act of generosity pushes her family to the brink of even greater calamity.
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