In early 1862, the war comes within view of the Brannon family farm in Culpeper County, Virginia, and another son of answers the call to arms. A gifted horseman, Mac joins Jeb Stuart's cavalry and soon finds himself on one of the great adventures of the war.

While love blossoms on the Brannon homestead, the Northern army intercepts the Rebels near Antietam Creek, where two Brannon brothers, Will and Mac, are brought together in the bloodiest trial of the war thus far. The air is thick with shot and shell as wave after wave of the Northern soldiers are hurled upon the Southern lines grouped near the town of Sharpsburg and a river of death.