Laurel OMalley is the nineteen year old daughter of a highly regarded country doctor living just on the outskirts of Baltimore, a city under threat of attack by the British in 1814. Though not officially courting as yet, she fancies herself in a relationship with Edward Morrison who has been corresponding with her since he's been away at West Point. Though the British are steadily increasing the numbers of war ships out in the Chesapeake Bay, the war has been only an annoyance to her until Captain Bret Harrington, an injured privateer, and two of his crew members seek medical treatment from her father. This encounter causes her to begin to awaken to the dangers all Baltimore citizens are facing. Over the course of several weeks, Laurel fights her attraction to the handsome privateer as she struggles to maintain her loyalty to Edward who has been recently posted at Fort McHenry, just up the road from where she lives. Nevertheless, with the daily concern that the British may invade, Edward is unable to make his courtship official. At the same time, Laurel finds herself repeatedly in the company of Bret Harrington, who has made no secret of his interest in her. Over the course of the next months, she is faced with several unforeseen tragedies that turn her life upside down. And then when the British burn Washington, the war becomes ever so real to her and everyone she loves. Laurel finds herself having to stand tall for her country and for the man she has come to love.
