It’s the winter of 1777, a year after Washington’s triumphant surprise attack on Trenton, and the battered, demoralized Continental Army retreats from Philadelphia. At Valley Forge, they discover that their requests for supplies have been ignored by Congress. With no other options, for weeks the army freezes under tents in the bitter cold. The men are on the point of collapse, while in Philadelphia the British live in luxury. In spite of the suffering, Washington endures, joined by a volunteer from Germany, Baron Friederich von Steuben. With precious little time, von Steuben begins recasting the army as a professional corps capable of facing the British head-on—something it has never accomplished before—in the process changing the course of history.