In 1776, seventeen-year-old Jacob Allen has already lost his father who fought alongside other Americans hoping to free themselves from Britain's control of their destiny. The family can only hope that his older brother Ted is still alive and fighting somewhere. When asked, Jacob leaps at the opportunity to help deliver much needed supplies to Washington's army. What he assumes will be only a matter of days before he returns to tend the family farm turns into months of imprisonment, escape, and fighting for the cause. Jacob's common sense, his hunting skills, his patriotism lead him in and out of danger, and he learns not to take anyone at face value: some who should be patriots and friends of the cause are less reliable than those he thinks he shouldn't trust.