Zoe Snyder, 13, spends the longest week of her life in June 1864, when invading Yankee troops take over her family's Georgia home and use it as their headquarters. With her father off fighting, Zoe and her mother must face the enemy alone, reduced to waiting on the Captain, Benjamin Hetcher. Hetcher is a superstitious sort, and Zoe sets out to scare him away with talk of the "haunt"' who shares their home.