Young Daniel Wade works hard to avoid the battling militias in Missouri in 1860. On the one side are those allied with the Southern cause, and on the other, those committed to preserving the Union. When war finally comes, however, Daniel has to choose. His decision to join the Union militia estranges him from his father and the family of his sweetheart, Laurel. Now Daniel has returned home on furlough after being wounded, to find his fighting is far from over. Laurel is gone, and the entire area lives in fear, trapped in the iron grip of a gang of ruthless renegades. Will one man be able to break that grip, or will his latest fight be his last?