When the Civil War comes to Fredericksburg, Texas, two women as contentious as the North and South, are left by their husbands, brothers who fight on opposite sides. While trying to hold together the farm, they take in a motherless boy. His father deserts his Confederate post to help at planting and harvest, but Comanche and the hangaerdbande (rogue vigilantes) threaten their lives and livelihood. Eliza and Katarina, in their quest for survival, commit acts they never believed possible. Despite their antagonism, they must pull together to survive. A music box pays for their lives and changes the course of their relationship.