Kate has always looked forward to her family's canal boat trips to Washington City, but this year everything has changed. Papa is dead and Mama has remarried, bringing a stepsister and stepbrother into their family. Kate's new stepfather is off fighting for the Union, and now Mama's expecting a new baby, making the trip they planned impossible. But Kate refuses to give up; her family depends on the income from the coal they haul down the C & O Canal. But Kate can't make the trip alone. As much as she resents her stepbrother, Seth, she needs his help; Kate discovers that working together not only means survival, it brings the understanding that will help her belong to a real family once again.