A steamboat whistle splits the asir one evening and with it all is changed for fifteen-year-old Tilkly Pruitt and her family. They've been living in a muddy little Mississippi River town in Illinois, fearing the approach of the Civil War. Except for Tilly's twin brother, Noah, who has been marching and drilling witht he other boys in town--all of them ready to soldier, some for the North and some for the South.