Ruth Danson, a feisty seventeen-year-old Pennsylvania farm-girl abandons her family in the spring of 1863 to be with the man she loves, nineteen-year-old William Jay Lytell, a private with John Mosby's 43rd Battalion of Virginia Cavalry--the famed Mosby's Rangers. Through the lush panoramic beauty of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley and across the vast expanse of war-ravaged Virginia, Li'l Bud thunders across the pages in a maelstrom of cannon smoke and musket fire. Robert E. Lee and U.S. Grant; Phil Sheridan and George Custer; A.P. Hill and John Hancock are seen through the eyes of Li'l Bud and Jay as they fight and love through the killing years of the Civil War.

It is the heartbreaking story of sister against brother as Ruth rides against her brother David of the 116th Pennsylvania Infantry. In raids and skirmishes Li'l Bud encounters hometown friends in the Ringgold and 22nd Pennsylvania Cavalry blurring the lines between North and South. Amidst the flames and anguished cries as the Shenandoah Valley burns from Union torches, Li'l Bud, with a pair of Colt .44s and her faithful chestnut filly, Princess, will let nothing stand in the way of love in the arms of William Jay.