Tom Holloway and his Southern friends are excited about their prospects in joining the war effort, but the only thing they know of battle is what they've read about in newspapers. They envision the whole thing as an adventure, something to prove their manhood, to make them into men, and a diversion from their sometimes boring school regimen. Ultimately, they anticipate becoming heroes on a winning team.

Words from a grizzled war veteran makes Tom wonder whether his ideas of war are more romantic than realistic. As he marches off with his friends to battle with the Yankees, he remembers the harsh illumination he'd been given from a soldier with experience. Watching friends and comrades die in a volley of gun- and cannon-fire on blood-soaked ground teaches the foursome the truth of war. Will hell, hunger, cold, fatigue, fear and resignation be the only comrades they have left?