Elizabeth Stafford, a plantation belle from Virginia, dreams of breaking away from her father's grasp and of being more than a proper Southern lady and wife. Her dreams seem possible at Madame Corday's Charleston boarding school, where Elizabeth learns to do a lot more than just sew. And when Elizabeth meets Union lieutenant Adam Cranfield at the Christmas ball, she is instantly attracted to his boldness—instantly swept up by the promise of love and adventure. But to marry a Yankee would be unthinkable. The lines have been drawn between North and South. Which side will Elizabeth choose? Be swept up in the lives of Elizabeth, Victorine, Hannah, and Rosamund as they fight for their beliefs and the men they love through the raging years of the Civil War.

Heading to New Orleans where she will wed the dashing Andre+a7 Valmont, Victorine LaGrande is confident that her arranged marriage will be perfect, until she sees Andre+a7 with another woman and falls in love with Creole Brent Whitman.

Hannah, a slave from the Virginia Stafford plantation, helps deliver fellow slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad, and vows never to marry until she herself is free. Then Hannah meets Joshua, a free man of color whose love overwhelms her, and the two of them make a daring attempt to flee north with a group of slaves. But will Hannah's dream that all slaves be free cost Hannah her own freedom and the love of her life?

Rosamond, a Tennessee girl of the Civil War era, is torn between her love for Captain Wesley Harrison of the Union Army and Jonathan Scott, a Confederate soldier