The Canfield family finds itself split down the middle after the Civil War breaks out when Confederate forces attack the Union arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
A regular-army sergeant is given the job of delivering badly needed guns to a volunteer unit. However, when he sees how badly trained the unit's soldiers are and how inexperienced its captain is, he refuses to complete the mission.
Ben is having trouble with his soldiers, who are volunteers and not regular troops. They only signed up for a short time and don't take the war particularly seriously. In addition, Ben's captain his getting on his case because he believes a big battle is brewing and he doesn't want to fight it with ill-disciplined and unmotivated troops.
Jeff is taken deep into the back country on a potentially dangerous mission--recruiting sharpshooters for the Confederate army from among the reclusive and suspicious backwoods people.
A Union force is camped at Harper's Ferry, and Jeff is assigned to sneak through their lines to gather information. He discovers that his brother Ben is among the soldiers stationed there.
Col. Fry and Ben are captured and sent to the Confederate POW camp at Libby Prison, where they get a taste of the harsh treatment meted out to prisoners by the camp commandant, Maj. Turner.
After a Union force takes over a Confederate town, its captain orders the Confederate flag taken down. Outraged, an elderly resident of the town fires at him.
Three men are picked to cross over enemy lines in Harper's Ferry and sabotage an important railroad trestle that will be used by a train supplying Union troops with much-needed ammunition.
Ben goes undercover to gather evidence on a criminal ring that has its members enlist in the army for the monetary incentives, then smuggles them out of the camp once they've been paid.
A soldier convicted of cowardice under fire and sentenced to death has his execution delayed. However, two of the soldiers in his company are determined to see the sentence carried out, even if they have to do it themselves.
