Twenty-year-old Caroline Ashby lives peacefully in the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Fauquier County, Virginia. But in April 1861, Virginia votes to secede, plunging the state into a tragic era of history: the War Between the States. Caroline's desire for peace is dashed as family and friends are drawn into devastating combat. Not only is the country divided, but the Ashby and Dixon families, friends for generations, are forced apart. Caroline and other women in the county are called upon to take on new roles and responsibilities in an era of widespread uncertainty. In the midst of war, responsibility, and secrecy, Caroline nearly forgets a promise, a vital and life-threatening choice she must make. Will she make the right choice and help her family in the end, or be subsumed by a war whose destruction knows no bounds? This gripping novel, based on real events and historical figures, brings history to life and shows the frailties as well as the strengths of people from all walks of life in the midst of America's deadly Civil War.