Set against the harsh backdrop of seventeenth-century Newfoundland, three women struggle to find freedom--but what does it mean when one woman's freedom curtails the freedom of another?
As England is torn apart by civil war and the king is executed by anti-monarchists, English colonists on the other side of the Atlantic continue to live their day-to-day lives against the backdrop of a changing world. Lady Frances Hopkins, exiled from England because of her loyalty to the late king, tries to make a home for herself in the Newfoundland colony ruled by her brother-in-law, Sir David Kirke--but how long can David and his wife Sara remain in power? Lady Frances's maid, Hannah Peake, has tied her fortunes to her mistress's by following her to Newfoundland, but is she free to forge her own path? Meanwhile, Hannah's friend Meg, a fisherman's wife, can't see what difference it makes who sits on the throne in faraway England; all that matters to her is making a comfortable home and a good life for the family she hopes to have. But will her devoutly Puritan husband Peter help her achieve that dream-- or make it impossible?