In 1862 in Loudoun County, Virginia, pacificist Quakers Levi Clement and Comfort Clarke wed in a loveless marriage. He wed her out of deference to his heartbroken father who disowned his oldest son for joining the Northern army. Levi loves Willa Mae Tyler, who puts on the Confederate uniform to fight the Yankees who brutally killed her family. She left with a secret that she carries inside her womb, a secret that has given her the will to live for the first time since her brothers were massacred. Willa Mae prays for her friend, escaped slave Surry Lion, as Surry and her little sister Penny flee via the Underground Railroad, pursued by slave hunters.