Living at a frontier crossroads can have unexpected perils, especially when war is afoot. Mel Carroll, an isolated, self-sufficient hill farmer, wants only to plow and harvest, tend to his stock, marry his sweetheart, and live a quiet life in the rugged Ozark country of southwest Missouri. But when his farm is transformed into a Confederate military camp, Mel witnesses three days of desperate fighting, as well as the steady desolation of his farm, fields and livestock. The outmanned, outgunned Confederate forces finally collapse in disarray, and Mel is captured along with the remnants of the Southern forces. He escapes to the surrounding woods, and from then on has only one goal in mind: to make his way through the rugged Ozark Mountains to the farm where his sweetheart, Rochelle Adderly, and her family live. And though the two armies have taken their battleson south, the danger is not over yet. Now Mel Carroll must fight a one-man war to save the woman he loves.