The Civil War in northern Mississippi is about to heat up again.
Escaped from a POW compound, Will Hunter intends to let the riverboat take him and Stephen Murdock to the Kentucky side of the Ohio River where he can rejoin the 1st Alabama. That is, until he recognizes Seth--the escaped slave he once failed to recapture.
Seth is enjoying freedom as a hand on a paddle steamer, staying out of people's way and taking advantage of Ohioans who disagree with the Fugitive Slave Law. Then the two Yankee cavalrymen show up, and suddenly he is no longer anonymous nor free.
Philip and Paul Pearson are also on a riverboat, this one supposedly headed down the Ohio to the Cumberland River to join with the 21st Ohio--but the Confederates have other ideas. A multipronged invasion threatens Nashville, and the road to Corinth, MS, moves the new recruits toward Pittsburg Landing and guerrilla country. With no training, the "fresh fish" of the 21st Ohio--with Philip as their new chaplain--are about to discover the price of war.