The saga tells the story of the enduring friendship between Orry Main of South Carolina and George Hazard of Pennsylvania, who become best friends while attending the United States Military Academy at West Point but later find themselves and their families on opposite sides of the war. The slave-owning Mains are rural planters, while the Hazards, who resided in a small Northern mill town, profit from ownership of manufacturing and industry capital, their differences reflecting the divisions between North and South that eventually led to the Civil War.