The taste of wedding cake is still sweet in Elizabeth Morgan’s mouth when she sets out from York State for the new State of Michigan. Her handsome bridegroom, Jacob, has bought land in the frontier town of Riverton in the Saginaw Valley, and Elizabeth dreams of building a home and raising her family in a pleasant community like the one where she grew up. But she hasn’t counted on the problems that arise the moment she sets foot on the untamed shore of the Saginaw River.

Riverton is almost non-existent. Her temporary lodgings are crude and infested with insects. And a dangerous disease breaks out among the neighboring Indians, threatening the white folk as well. Desperately, she seeks a way out of the forest that holds her captive, but God seems to have cut off all possible exits. Surely, He can’t mean for her to stay in this raw wilderness?