On December 20, 1860, two friends take part in a momentous occasion in the graceful old city of Charleston, South Carolina. The stories of these young people and their friends & families play out against the drumbeat of impending war & many of their romantic notions about the glory of war are shattered.

The second book in the Palmetto Trilogy picks up where Call to Arms"" left off, as Allard Tyler and Barnaby Yorke limp into Nassua with their heavily damaged ship, the ""Ghost."" A fateful voyage climaxes at Nassau, where mayhem and death and indiscretions combine in a harrowing struggle for life and hope.""