Sixteen-year-old Veronica is a southern belle desperate to break free of an arranged marriage to her childhood bully. After cannons are fired over Charleston, Veronica accepts an invitation to Washington, D.C. from her new friend Amy, not revealing her secret mission: To find her childhood friend Jack and convince him to marry her instead. When Brad, Amy's handsome cousin, saves Veronica from being trampled at Bull Run, Veronica questions her southern assumptions and childish plans. Shaken by the battle, Veronica and Amy return to Richmond. Following them is a masked man who claims to be...

Spontaneous, fifteen-year-old Gretchen vows to help heal the nation from the recently ended Civil War. On the morning of President Lincoln's death, Gretchen finds an amnesiac Confederate in her garden and believes this is her chance for civic goodwill. But reconciliation is not as simple as Gretchen assumed. When her mother returns from the market with news that a Confederate murdered the president, Gretchen wonders if she caught the killer. Tensions between her aunt and mother rise as Gretchen nurses her Confederate prisoner, revealing secrets from their past that make Gretchen question...