Through three generations in Colonial America, the women of the LeSage family show a rare strength and courage. Anne, a wild spirit, plots treason against the Crown, constructs secret passageways, and leads an adulterous life.

After her husband, Anne's son John, is killed, Emma turns to prostitution and drugs, abandoning her daughter, Charlotte, to an orphanage near Concord, New Hampshire.

Charlotte grows up in the orphanage where she is raped by the hired hand. She runs away from danger and becomes Charles, pretending to be a man so that she can find work and safety. She falls in love with her workmate, Jack, who is also in love with Charles but cannot admit it. Jack hopes to save himself by marrying Elizabeth, Charlotte's long-lost best friend. As Charles becomes mentally unhinged, only one person knows all of the pieces of the puzzle and how to untangle the deceit, laying bare the truth that can rescue Charlotte, reunite the best friends, and let love be unfettered.