with the end of the colonies fight for independence begins a new and even more glorious battle to build a new nation it is an epoch ripe with the passion that only a country in its springtime can inflame and two young heirs to a family dynasty dare to confront without fear the barbarity of the west the indian resistance cruel townships deathhere is a panorama of magnificent action peopled by some of the bravest characters of an age when abraham kent falls in love with this stepsister he sets in motion a fate that will drive a generation westward until amanda a girlchild with the heart of a woman seeks the new frontier that is this lands greatest opportunity and most awesome dread