Sixteen-year-old Will McDougall has completed the education available to him in the 1864 frontier town of Oregon City, and his future is uncertain. Then he learns his family’s darkest secret—a secret his parents have concealed since his birth.

Devastated by this deception, Will runs away with a friend. The boys become mule packers for a militia unit exploring the untamed wilderness of Southern Oregon.

Against the backdrop of the Civil War, unfamiliar Army rules, and encounters with indigenous tribes, Will seeks to understand himself and his family’s past . . . and to find his way home.