Tensions mount as the North and South grow more and more hostile and Austin Hutchinson is right in the middle of it all! Vigilante secessionists are threatening to tar and feather abolitionists for wanting to free slaves. And when Austin overhears men plotting to arrest his father, Wesley, he realizes how bad the situation really is! Will Austin be forced to leave Uncle Drayton's plantation and Lottie and Henry-James, the only friends he's ever known? Just when it seems things couldn't get worse, Daddy Elias becomes very ill. Then Austin is kidnapped by the men who are after his father! Will Wesley be lured into their trap? Can Austin trust Jesus to take care of him and the people he loves?