Haunted by ghosts, a young Confederate soldier embarks on a dangerous diplomatic mission at the behest of Sam Houston.
It is July, 1863. The country is a vast graveyard. The carnage of Gettysburg, coupled with the capitulation of Vicksburg leave a Confederacy doomed to defeat.
But to former Texas Governor Sam Houston, it may be his last chance to save his beloved Texas from the ravages of war. Dishonored and ousted from office, Houston recruits young Travis Anderson to carry the diplomatic proposal of a separate peace to US President Abraham Lincoln.
Travis sets off for Washington in the company of Irish immigrant Michael Cohan. Along the way, they meet an escaped slave fighting for his child's freedom, pacific Cherokee shepherds just trying to escape the violence of war, bloodthirsty partisan raiders looking for any excuse to murder and loot, a patriotic Union cavalryman just trying to make it home in one piece, Travis' red-tressed former fiancee, combative brothers who served as engineers on the Underground Railroad, a reluctant Southern soldier wanting desperately to do the right thing, and an impetuous Southern belle with a nose for trouble.
The ghosts of Sam Houston's past and Travis' wartime friends uncannily accompany Travis, who finally meets with President Lincoln and the ghosts of war at the battlefield at Gettysburg.