King Gustavus of Sweden orders General Mike Stearns of West Virginia to go to Saxony and restore order. Gretchen has been arrested there and is likely to be executed. The revolutionary groups which she has been working with are not about to let that happen, and suddenly there's rioting in the streets and Saxony's ruthless General Baner is determined to suppress the uprising.

"1636. The United States of Europe, the new nation formed by an alliance between the Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus and the West Virginians hurled back in time, is on the verge of civil war. His brain injured, Gustavus is no longer in command. Swedish chancellor Oxenstierna, a leader of aristocratic reaction against democracy, is gathering the forces of the hidebound ruling class to drown the revolution in a bloodbath. In Magdeburg, the capital of...