During the Civil War, fourteen-year-old Jacob Knight returns from the cornfield one day to find bushwhackers—Confederate sympathizers in the Union state of Missouri—terrorizing his family. At the insistence of his mother, Jacob and his seven-year-old sister, Eliza, flee the house for safety. When the two young people dare to return home the following morning, their family is nowhere to be found, and their home is burnt to the ground. Not knowing what else to do, Jacob and Eliza take their one remaining horse and journey north to their aunt's home in Iowa, hoping to find their missing family members there. Jennifer Johnson Garrity brings the American Civil War era to life in this story about family, trust, and courage during a time of great uncertainty.