Recounts the life of a magnificent male monarch butterfly, from his hatching in Canada to his capture by a lepidopterist, who tags him and subsequently charts his migratory flight all the way to Mexico.
Despite his uncle's objections, twelve-year-old Charley eagerly joins the First Minnesota Regiment to fight for the Union, but when he is caught up in the first major battle on the Civil War at Bull Run, his thoughts about the war change.