Shenandoah is the eighth book in a series of historical novels spanning the Civil War and describing its effects on one Southern family. The last half of 1863 has taken a toll on the Brannon family, but a Christmas lull in the fighting brings home Mac and Will as well as Titus, the son believed to have been killed in the war. Though his return is joyous news, Titus is devastated when he finds his wife remarried and pregnant. In his bitterness, he unleashes a personal war on the new family. Will returns to duty and is swept into the fighting in the Wilderness. For a time, Mac is with him, but a Federal raid near Richmond propels the Confederate cavalry toward the crossroads at Yellow Tavern -and destiny. Of the two brothers left at the Brannon farm, now behind enemy lines, one seeks vengeance on the Yankees fighting in the Shenandoah Valley.