During a cavalry skirmish at the battle of Cold Harbor, 'Henry' is shot. His near death experience catalyzes his determination to live and to love fully promising to find Virginia Klaising, the widow that saved his life during Antietam. The Indians hiding high up in the Blue Ridge tell Henry that Virginia is destined to marry an old man she does not love so she can hang onto her farm. When the Indians realize that Henry is a 'two-spirit' they hide him from the Union forces and prepare him to be reunited with his soul mate, Virginia. Eloping on a summer night with fireflies as luminaries, they begin their new life. The secret becomes harder to keep as Henry suffers from PTSD and must confess his battle sins. He recounts a mercy killing of a childhood friend, her child still missing. Going in search of the child, he/she ultimately brings the boy, home.