Caroline knows that in order to fight the British, her village desperately needs its shipyards and supply boats and she will do whatever it takes to keep them out of enemy hands, then later, while helping on her uncle's farm, Caroline discovers that the war brings dangers there, too.

At the close of the Civil War, weary veteran Malcolm Hopeton returns to his home in western New York State to find his wife and hired man missing and his farm in disrepair. A double murder ensues, the repercussions of which ripple through a community with spiritual roots in the Second Great Awakening. Malcolm Hopeton has gone from the horrors of war to those far worse, and arrayed around him are a host of people struggling to make sense of his crime....