Seeking to fulfill the promise she made to her dying father, eighteen-year-old Jesselynn Highwood determines to take her little brother and the family's Thoroughbreds from Twin Oaks plantation in Kentucky to her uncle's farm in Missouri to protect them from the ravages of the War between the States. They embark on a perilous journey, riding at night, hiding during the day, dodging both Confederate and Union troops along the way. After narrowly escaping discovery, they finally arrive in Missouri, only to find that the situation there puts them in greater danger