While Moxley Westcott flees to Mobile to escape arrest by the Union army his brother Ben, critically wounded and a prisoner, hovers at death's door. Their parents and their sister Annie return to their plantation upriver, unaware that danger lurks very near in the person of the evil Xavier Locke, who plans their demise. For the Jessups, Susan's personal problems continue and Alex finds service aboard a new Confederate cruiser. But soon after it sets sail, its crew suffers a life or death crisis. Meanwhile, Philippe and Annie's former suitor, Randall Bartlett, fight the Yankees farther north. Closer to home, Nancy endures Titus's verbal and physical abuse. If Danny can't find forgiveness in his heart and doesn't survive the war, he'll never discover his true destiny, and Nancy will suffer till her dying day. This second installment of Southern Sons-Dixie Daughters continues the triumphs, conflicts, and tragedies of these four Southern families against the sweeping saga of the Civil War's western naval campaigns. Who will live to see the end of the war? Who will die? Who will choose change rather than a hardened heart?