2nd of 4 Novels (1837-1861) Pre-Civil War. * Young love in a plantation family in the years before the Civil War. Second in a projected series of four novels based on the history of West Virginia. *

Before the Civil War, Peregrine Catlett considers freeing his slaves but believes he can only retain his plantation by slave labour. His son, Johnny, returns to his father's farm but stays only until the outbreak of hostilities. He ends up fighting family and friends with disastrous consequences.