Horseback on the Boston Post Road, 1704

As the win­ter of 1704 approach­es, New Eng­lan­ders are reel­ing from the news of war with the French and Indi­ans. A mys­te­ri­ous let­ter has arrived for Madame Sarah Kem­ble Knight, instruct­ing her to bring the iden­ti­cal twin ser­vants, 12-year-old Hes­ter and Phile­na, on a long dan­ger­ous jour­ney by horse from Boston toward New Haven, Con­necti­cut. But Madame Knight decides to take only one of the twins, who have been bound in servi­tude to her since infan­cy. Dev­as­tat­ed, Hes­ter starts off with her mis­tress, leav­ing her sis­ter behind.

But Phile­na soon risks her life to fol­low Hes­ter and the Wid­ow. When they final­ly meet up, the rough trip turns per­ilous,. Aban­doned by their guides, the trav­el­ers face drown­ing, star­va­tion, and exhaus­tion as they make their way through hos­tile Indi­an coun­try, men­ac­ing woods, haz­ardous swamps, and wild rivers. But nei­ther of the girls can imag­ine the real rea­son for the jour­ney that will end in the fas­ci­nat­ing city of New York and change their lives forever.…