Micah Hartman and Damon Hall first meet in the frontier river town of Reed's Landing, Wisconsin in the 1850's. Micah, the son of one of the town's leading lumbermen, embodies the West but seeks more from his life than the perpetual cycle of lumbering. Damon, educated at Harvard's Divinity School, comes to "the Landing" an idealistic young cleric seeking to do God's will. Despite what they may have planned for their lives, the Civil War gives them different paths to tread. The old friends are united as members of the Seventh Wisconsin-soon to become part of the famous "Iron Brigade". Micah, an infantryman, and Damon, the Seventh's chaplain, are forever changed inside the crucible of combat where they are forced to face war's death, pain, and suffering. After the war, life continues. The men find wives and dream of children. Young men become older men; older men discover regret. It is only after forty years at each other's side that the truth comes out. An aged ledger appears that casts a shadow of doubt on the integrity of one of these men, and that shadow could forever darken a lifelong friendship.