Wildflowers and Seedcorn recounts the first two years of the Civil War from the perspective of three central characters: Gus, the disaffected Virginian who forsakes his father by fleeing north to fight for the Federals; Charlie, the stubbornly ambitious son of a wealthy planter from Fort Smith who ends up riding for Quantrill, so eager to kill for the Confederacy that he becomes something quite different than a soldier; John, the son of a Kentucky farmer who follows his inept father into battle and surprises even himself when he finds his footing among Forrest’s cavalry. Across two years of war, their combined experience offers a staggering reminder that war is a young man’s game.