In Colonial Massachusetts at the dawning of the American Revolution, an enslaved African American and a reluctant Patriot must battle the British regulars to stop their raid to destroy American arms. Quock grew up enslaved on a farm in Lexington but joins Lexington's militia to resist the British regulars. Jason Green, fought for his king during the last war, but he shares his countrymen's anger at parliament's intolerable acts. Llewellyn Caradoc, a veteran line officer in the British Army and his friend and patron Lord Robert Dandridge are ordered to lead a perilous mission to destroy rebel arms in Concord.

When Jason hears of the British raid he is forced to choose between king and country. As his corps marches to Concord Llewellyn learns that the Yankee militia were alerted, and thousands of minutemen are already descending on Concord. Robert uncovers a rebel spy, but she knows Robert's secret and blackmails him to silence. Quock finds that even as he fights with an Army that rose to defend its rights, those rights may not extend to Black Americans.