This novel by John Wilson, the sequel to The Flags of War, continues the adventures of two cousins, Walt and Nate McGregor, and of Sunday, the former slave on Nate"s father"s plantation. They have survived the carnage at Shiloh. But the war rages on. Nate returns to the family plantation to find it in ruins. In despair he turns back to the only life he knows -- the army. Meanwhile, Walt and Sunday re-enlist to fight for their beliefs, no matter how great the danger. The three young men meet again at the notorious Libby prison in Virginia: Nate as a guard, Sunday as a slave and Walt as a prisoner. Their grim reunion at Libby -- where prison walls divide them -- highlights the complexity of a war that tore a nation apart. Can the three battle-scarred soldiers hope for anything more than survival?