The struggles of a World War I Christian (Old German Baptist Brethren) conscientious objector as told through letters and diary entries. Compiled and edited by Barbara Royer, it is the story of the lives of Verne and Estella Kessler while Verne was imprisoned in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where noncombatants faced influenza and diphtheria, solitary confinement, starvation, mistreatment, and torture that sometimes resulted in death. The story is conveyed by letters between the young couple and others.