In 1862 Charles “Bump” Conger answers the challenge to do his patriotic duty in the Civil War and enlists in the One Hundred and Fortieth Pennsylvania Volunteers. Left at home is his young wife, Isadora, and three small children to fend for themselves. What was expected to be a few months of military service transitions into three years of conflicting views, hardship and tragedy.
Bump saw the slaughter at such places as Gettysburg and Spotsylvania and endured the experience of close friends suffering grievous wounds and death. Isadora was challenged in the role of a single parent to provide for the household and avoid the schemes of those who would take advantage of her. The loss of the two young daughters to typhoid fever is devastating to Isadora and the surviving child Samuel. In the aftermath, misunderstandings result in a rift in the family structure. Samuel leaves in his teen years and in the coming decades becomes a successful businessman.
Forty years later these issues are confronted as a community Memorial Day celebration triggers remembrances of military service and home front hardships
