The war between the North and the South takes hold on the canal boat Freeman.

As the Fitzgerald Family struggles to make it through the winter of 1862-1863 after a poor year of boating on the C&O Canal along the Potomac River in Maryland, the Civil War draws closer to being fought aboard the Freeman. George Fitzgerald's unexpected return from the battlefields pits him against David Windover, an ex-Confederate spy, who now works and lives with the Fitzgeralds.

Alice Fitzgerald struggles to hold her family together as a vindictive sheriff and a haughty doctor's wife work to tear them apart. Tony, the street urchin from Cumberland, has found a life aboard the Freeman, but Sheriff Lee Whittaker has other ideas for the ex-thief. Elizabeth Fitzgerald is growing older and finding herself torn between the canal and becoming a lady.

Together, the Fitzgeralds have met every obstacle, but how will they fare if fate seems determined to separate them?