Dramatic changes are in store for Lydia Longley when her father brings home a new mother for his children. At the time she is twelve-years-old. This change, however, proves to be small in comparison to the traumatic event that changes her life forever when she is twenty. While everyone is busy preparing breakfast, a party of Abenaki Indians raids their peaceful farm, killing her parents, brothers and sisters. Miraculously, they spare her life along with her younger brother and sister.