Nobody knows the American Revolution better than Rock Kindle. He can name every soldier, spy, and battlefield of this war. Rock's belief that he himself could brave any battle often helps him through the bad times, when Rock's own father wages small, cruel wars on the rest of the family. But when his best friend, Liza, decides to run away from home, Rock begins to question his own loyalties. Why, he wonders, is own desire to escape his family so powerful?