The year is 2081, six years after the Chestnuts' arrival at Camp Patience. Aside from looking after her children, Martina devotes most of her energy to writing letters on behalf of other refugees seeking assistance from camp administrators or Free Southern State officials in Atlanta. Dana, now 12, has become "the prettiest little refugee girl anyone's ever seen" (76) and regularly poses for photo-ops in return for cash whenever Northern journalists visit the camp. Sarat, already as tall as her mother, is a fearless girl who spends her days sneaking out of camp with her friend Marcus Exum, or hanging out at the North end of the camp—despite its dangerous proximity to the enemy—to watch soldiers hunt for landmines.

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Simon has fallen under the spell of the Rebel movement and wants to join the Virginia Cavaliers militia. This upsets Martina, who blames the Rebels for her husband's death. Over the course of the war, the fighters in the South begin to fall into two groups: trained soldiers under the employ of the Free Southern State—who, as Martina puts it, "fight by the rules" (93)—and unofficial Rebel insurrectionist militias like the Cavaliers. It is from the latter group that suicide bombers are frequently recruited.