Beautiful and popular 20 year old Marion lives in New York during the Civil War, which hasn't touched her life at all. Her father does some type of work for the government, but she has no idea what. He mother is an empty headed, pleasure loving woman who loves hosting her daughter's friends and pays no attention to anything serious, including her husband. Marion is on her way to becoming as vapid as her mother when she overhears a conversation that shocks her. Vowing to change her behavior she appeals to her father. After several long sermons, he encourages to change her life and use her personal appeal to encourage those around her to better themselves, also. This means several of her suitors end up going off to war, while another finds himself on a different path. Including first-person accounts of Gettysburg and other battles, the reader wonders who will survive the war and win Marion's now virtuous hand.