Times are tough for sixteen-year-old Stick McLaughlin, running from a trumped up arson charge and hiding among hobos in 1918 Boston. Denied the companionship and support of lifelong soul mate Ellie, Stick edges her way through prison as "Mac," only to be thrust alone and wide-eyed into the very definitely Roaring Twenties. She swallows what's left of her pride through the final year of her sentence—serving as maid to a wealthy family—but stockpiles many invaluable lessons about rapidly-changing life in 1924.Confrontations with bootleggers and a particularly enthralling flapper go a long way toward molding a strong, confident, clever "Mac," who hits the streets with a gang of her own, determined to claim the good life she deserves by beating the corrupt system and Boston's ethnic mobs at their own game.Little does she know that the lost love she's mourned for years is closer than she thinks. But have time and circumstance conspired against her once and for all?

Disguised as her late brother, Cooper, in the 19th Massachusetts Volunteers, Catherine Samson fights to quell the Confederate rebellion and preserve her nation's unity. She believes the Constitution's declarations of equality and freedom apply to everyone, and dreams that someday they will extend to her own pursuit of happiness with a woman.Helping her father raise her siblings on their Gettysburg farm, Sophie Bauer likewise clings to hope for a woman to love, but when she serves as an army aide and meets Cooper, Sophie is confounded by her growing feelings for him. Catherine, meanwhile, wrestles with her deception and the disguise she must maintain. Disclosure could not only repulse Sophie but send Catherine home a social outcast.When the Battle of Gettysburg engulfs the Bauer farm, Catherine and Sophie learn far more about themselves than they ever expected. But first there's a war—and hearts—to be won.