Waggoners Gap, a spiritual place with unique natural beauty and breathtaking vistas, overlooks the Cumberland Valley near Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It is also a pivotal locale in the sweeping story of two disparate families fighting for survival and success in the dark decades surrounding World War II. The Genero clan is at the heart of the story. The lives of Marta, Phillip, and their son and daughter, are inevitably affected by a richer and more influential family, the Monarchs, who control industry and employment for most of the people living in the shadow of Waggoners Gap. The generational confluence of these players begins during World War I, reaches through the Great Depression, and culminates in World War II when the Genero children enlist to support the war effort. Meanwhile, the lecherous younger Monarch takes over his family's booming textile business and secretly begins to siphon off profits while mistreating his employees, including the Generos. The saga winds from Waggoners Gap to army training bases, ships at sea, battlefields in Europe and the Pacific, and back again. These truly colorful characters develop and influence each other over the decades. Through it all, in spite of deadly hardships overseas and trouble on the home front, Waggoners Gap draws the players together and repels them like a spinning magnet.