Though the year is 1963, twelve year old Tietam Cane of Macon Georgia is locked in a never-ending war for the Confederate South. Raised in the country, tutored by his kill-all-the-Yankees grandfather, Tietam's knowledge of the world is bound within his 11 Volume Photographic History of the Civil War and the old man's ritual reenactment of lost battles. Beneath the boyish bravado, Tietam's heart aches, longing for the parents who left him behind as a toddler when they fled to New York City where, according to his grandfather, they now thrive without him. But gradually, Tietman realizes that he lives in a cocoon spun by his grandfather's lies, his rage, and brutal family secrets. Trapped between the Civil War and the present, Tietam also realizes that this violent legacy threatens his life and his hopes for the future -- a world without war and without the ever-present hate.