Cora Mae Stewart's world collapses when Sherman destroys the Georgia cotton mill where she works and has her arrested for treason and sent North. Faced with impossible choices, she does what she must to keep a little girl safe in an inhospitable land. Convinced he won't survive the war, Union Sergeant Ethan Howard determines to make his death count for something. But Cora Mae gives him a reason to live. Trouble is, he's just arrested...