Dan Browne is an ex-slave and American Warrior. He fought and survived John Brown's debacle at Harper's Ferry, to be rescued by young Solly and his grandfather when he lay between life and death in the "Armory" John Brown had defended. Once Solly had nursed Dan back to health they join a USCT (US Coloured Troops) Regiment and fight with Sherman across the Southern States. They learn that an army at war is rather like a ship at sea where, as Herman Melville has pointed out, on shore inhibitions are left ashore and sexuality is expressed with those at hand and Eros and Dionysus ride the skies at night sowing friendly caresses, wild lust and even love as troubled souls escape the horrors of battle. Thus love and tragedy abound as do delight and terror. That our heroes are coloured makes little difference when it comes to love and war - where all die or survive as best they can.