This historical novel follows four young men, society outsiders, who band together from childhood to forge an unbreakable team. Knowing the secrets of black powder and hearing of the gunpowder shortage crippling the Continental Army, they set out to make powder throughout the winter and get it to General Washington before the campaigning season of 1778. Beset by loyalists, outlaws, bears, winter snows, and redcoats, they fight their way through the wilderness of western Pennsylvania and spend the winter making niter and grinding powder as snowstorms and lack of food constantly threaten their survival.
Attacked by outlaws on two occasions, they are forced to kill to survive. Then, attacked by two patrols of British soldiers, they again must outsmart, outflank, outrun, and outshoot the redcoats. Helped by an Indian tribe they befriended and helped with supplies, they make it through the winter and head back to Valley Forge with four wagons of gunpowder. Infiltrated by a traitor from Washington's headquarters, they once again must outsmart a gang of eight, using the secrets of the wilderness to their advantage.
At last, they arrive at Valley Forge, only to find the army departed for New Jersey. They brave the June heat to deliver four wagon loads of gunpowder at the start of the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse, the largest and longest artillery battle of the Revolutionary War. Their magical concoction helps to turn the battle and force the British from the field. The four men in their early twenties - an Irish Catholic, a Native American, a free Black, and a Chinese lad whose father taught them the secrets of making gunpowder - demonstrate that friendship and loyalty can overpower racial prejudice and bias.
