Dar Gantner wants to make a difference. It is 1968 and Dar finds himself in Chicago along with Casey, Payton, Teddy, Rain and Alix who all want to make the world a better place. Chicago is the place of anti-war demonstrations, riots, Black Panthers and lots of other groups. The teenagers all live together, following Dar's example, his willingness to have a cause and work toward the cause. However, Dar slowly changes. He falls in love with Alix, who really isn't political, and as the daughter of a wealthy businessman, is part of the "establishment" her friends are so against. As the once-uniform groups slowly slips apart and Teddy and Payton turn more radical, quiet Casey, who is in love with Alix, watches Dar and Alix while Rain watches Casey. All is well until Dar meets Alix's dad, whose attitude helps reaffirm his beliefs. He goes underground, not knowing that Alix is pregnant and returns after she has just given birth to twins, only to set some events in motion in which Alix dies. Casey decides to raise Alix's babies and Dar goes to prison.

Forty years later, Dar is out of prison and contacts each of the friends. By reconnecting, Dar stirs some fear and one-by-one his friends are killed. When his son Daniel and Casey are killed, Dar knows he has to protect his daughter, Lila

Lila knows she unplugged the Christmas tree before she left the house. Yet, the firemen are quick to blame the tree for the house fire that killed her father and her brother. However, soon someone is trying to kill her. She knows she must find answers and tries to find her mother's family. By investigating, Lila learns that her father had secrets and those secrets have dire consequences attached to them.

The late sixties and early seventies were tumultuous times. There were many anti-war demonstrations going on in cities across the U.S. and throngs of people who wanted peace. Libby Fischer Hellmann takes a moment from history and pulls out a handful of young people who wanted to change the world and thought they had all the answers. She fleshes out the characters and throws them into the present where wisdom that can only come from time shows them there are consequences for every action. SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE is both historical and contemporary. It shows the reader those consequences and the power that love has on a person and actions that culminate to a dramatic end.