On a warm Indian summer day in November of 1864 Carrie McGavock sits alone in her room at Carnton House, mourning the death of three of her five children. Just a few miles from the McGavock's plantation the armies of the Union and the Confederacy are engaged in one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Her house becomes a hospital for the wounded and dying, and Carrie finds the strength to embrace life amid the carnage of battle. Carrie saves the life of wounded soldier Zachariah Cashwell, and the two form a bond that lasts more than 30 years. After the war, when a wealthy neighbor decides to plow a field where many of the Confederate dead were buried, Carrie and Zachariah take steps to prevent the dead from being lost forever.