The Civil War Mandy White says goodbye to her love, Wills Lay, and other young friends who are off to save the Pond Fork River Valley and Virginia from the Union. She is comforted by her pastor, friends John and Hiley, and young Tow Head. To the east, Vera and Thatcher Marlowe watch their daughter Lacy say farewell to Ira Bettencourt, the young man she hopes to marry. Her sister flees to Richmond, hoping to contact a recent visitor to her family home, an actor named Booth. Ira and Wills are dispatched on a dangerous mission that could help the South gain victory. Mandy, back home, is caught in a deadly struggle between Union Lieutenant David Hasker and her old friend, Georgie Coon, leader of a small Rebel band. As Mandy awaits the arrival of a famous Union General who will lead the celebration of the new state of West Virginia, she learns that Georgie Coon is set on assassination of the general who Lieutenant Hasker is ordered to protect. A few ridge lines to the east, Ira and Wills learn that the location of their secret mission is the same as the site of ceremonial burial of one of the Confederacy's greatest field generals. Mandy and Wills are not aware of the great dangers they and their friends face.