Washington is full of doubt on the night of December 25, 1776. His army's morale is dangerously low. Each morning muster shows that hundreds have deserted during the night. The revolutionary spirit that burned so bright during the summer seems to be flickering out in the face of a harsh winter and repeated defeats. As a fierce winter storm blows down the river, the capture of General Charles Lee, the flight of the continental Congress from Philadelphia and all the events of the past five months of defeat come flooding into Washington's mind. The revolution has come down to one desperate throw of the dice as his army, freezing and hungry, slips across the Delaware to carry out what will become one of the most famous surprise attacks of all time.