Jethro, who is nine years old when the first April blooms, must run the farm in southern Illinois almost alone during the Civil War. Dangers on the home front prove as exciting as those in battle.

Sixteen-year-old Jefferson Davis Bussey cannot wait to join the Army and defend the Union against the dreaded Colonel Watie, but when he is assigned to infiltrate the enemy camp as a spy, he discovers the rebels are boys and men just like him, and he must then decide whether to betray his enemies or join them.