While visiting the American Museum of Natural History with his seventh-grade class, Noah Bradbury stops to admire a diorama. Such places no longer exist in Noah's world, and he wishes he could spend even an hour hiking through its autumn woods. Recently, his father's team of scientists have been working round the clock to find a cure for a disease that's been decimating northeastern trees. But soon, it may be Noah who will discover a way to help them. A museum is a place where the past is revisited and, before his field trip is over, Noah will find himself standing on a trail leading back to New Netherland. There, he will meet a Native American man, who will help him embark on a journey to find a legendary white oak that just might save the trees of Noah's future.