Elizabeth Sullivan fears for her brothers, fighting for American freedom; for her father, pretending to be a loyalist; for family and friends, caught between beliefs; but mostly for the man she loves, who is doing his duty. They’d only begun their courtship when the occupation of Charles Town, South Carolina, trapped her in the city and sent him to fight.

How could she love a man suspected of being a turncoat? As the American Revolution drags on, Charles Town, South Carolina, remains under siege by the British, and one woman’s father is determined to marry her off to a suspected traitor. Emily Sullivan is beset from all sides but vows to fight her own war for independence. Using the best tool she has - her pseudonymous essays - she embarks on a path toward her freedom, risking the town’s condemnation as a female writer.

Why did her suitor leave to fight without a word? Amy Abernathy is a woman renowned for her storytelling prowess, but even she cannot invent a sound reason for her suitor’s inexplicable actions. She picks up the shreds of her heart and endeavors to forget him, until he suddenly appears without any fanfare or explanation. She flees besieged Charles Town and him, escaping to a plantation to attend her sister in childbirth. Nursing her broken heart and her sister, she futilely prays he’ll leave her alone forever. 

When everything falls apart, how will she ever pull herself back together? For years, Samantha McAlester has kept a secret, daring escapade from friends and family, an act that marked her physically and emotionally. Her grief and pain from the past collide with her present world falling apart one piece at a time as the British besiegement of Charles Town continues. Her friend’s gunshot wound is infected, and a new doctor in town disputes her herbal simples.

Evelyn Hamilton lost everything in the fire that consumed her home. Everything, that is, but her infant son and the land where her home once stood. With few skills and limited funds, setting a new course for her life, one which will provide for her baby, is daunting. Her parents mean well, but expect she’ll simply move in with them. Determined to make her own way and rebuild her home, she chooses a far different and difficult route and runs into a handsome, appealing man.