This is a story of two cavalry generals: Hugh Judson Kilpatrick on the Union side and Joseph Wheeler on the Confederate side. They had known each other since West Point, and did not like each other. The war only deepened their personal animosity. The story is also about a woman who could lose everything at any moment. A plantation owner and widow, her life is torn apart by the approaching Union forces. Her home is raided and her teenage son has joined the militia to fight for the Confederacy.