A family torn apart by war. It is the beginning of the Revolutionary War and the tension is building both on the battlefield and at home. Tim Meeker, a common farm-boy, has a brother, Sam, which he has always looked up to. However, one day Sam and his father, Life, get into an argument about the war that is raging on. Both of their tempers flare and consequently Sam leaves home and joins the Patriots to fight the oncoming British troops. His father greatly disapproves of Sam's actions because he is a Loyalist and doesn't feel that his son should be fighting the British. Sam feels that he has the right to fight for his freedom and that he should be able to make his own decisions because he is a grown man of sixteen years. In the meantime Tim, who loves both his father and Sam dearly, is torn between whose side he is on in the matter.
             The story starts out at the Meeker family's tavern and house in Redding, Connecticut the start of the Revolution. In the tavern there are many men talking about the British troops being defeated in Massachusetts, one of the men there is Sam, Tim's brother. Sam is a Patriot that wishes to go out in battle to defeat the Lobsterbacks. Sam's father Eliphalet, also called Life, is a Loyalist that absolutely abhors the idea of his son dropping out of college to go to battle to fight the King's men. The two of them have a very heated argument and after a bit they decide to change the subject even though neither of them has changed their minds about judgment about each other's opinion. After a while Tim has to go and do his daily chores which includes milking their cow, Old Pru, and he asks Sam to go out and help him. While Tim is doing his farm duties he asks Sam how college life is and what he is doing back home. Sam says that the reason he is there is a secret and that he'll tell him only if he promises not to tell their parents. Not wanting to hurt either his parents...