A steamboat whistle splits the air one evening, and with it, all is changed for fifteen-year-old Tilly Pruitt and her family. They’ve been living in a muddy little Mississippi River town in Illinois, fearing the approach of the Civil War. Except for Tilly’s twin brother, Noah, who has been marching and drilling with the other boys in town-all of them ready to solider, some for the North and some for the South.

When the steamboat whistle blows and the Rob Roy from New Orleans docks at the landing, two remarkable figures come a commanding and glamorous young lady and her darker, silent servant. Who are these two fascinating strangers? And could the servant be a slave? When Tilly’s mother invites them both to room and board at her house, the whole world shifts for the Pruitts. And for their visitors as well.