A Quaker community in North Carolina finds itself opposing both the North and the South during the Civil War. In the fall of 1860, chilly winds of change sweep through Cross Keys and touch everybody. As the war rages from 1861 to 1865, armies on both sides tramp through the region, confiscating property and hurting the innocent. Walter Kirkwood refuses to pay the exemption tax and goes away to war in the spring of 1863. Near the end of that year his father, David Kirkwood, is called to military duty. In the thick of battle Walter suffers three terrible days at Gettysburg. His father, refusing to bear arms, is placed in the front lines at Petersburg as punishment for disobeying orders. At home the women and children endure and survive. It is a story of courage in the face of adversity, a novel closely based on historical fact and Quaker tradition.