Fourteen-year-old Thrasher Magee is too young to enlist in the Confederate army, but he has his own reasons for wanting to fight in the war. All his life, Thrasher's father has made him feel weak and cowardly. Now Thrasher has a chance to become a hero-and to prove he has what it takes to be a man. But when Thrasher leaves Georgia for Virginia and embarks on his journey, his courage and strength are tested in ways he never intended.