"'Oh, Thomas, do you recall the miracle you performed?' Yes, I did recall the miracle, if that's what it was. I recalled other things too. Fergus and the secret chamber. Caty and her still-born child. My sister's treacherous kiss." Norfolk, Virginia, 1775. Thomas Starling is fourteen years old but has never found the courage to speak to anyone except his older sister, Bethany. A visit from a stranger one night triggers a series of events that leads them to embark on a journey to the city of New York. There they encounter a community of outcasts and a demoralised army preparing for a British attack. Thomas yearns to be free of his boyhood and his dependence on his sister, but he is haunted by bitter memories of that terrifying night on the Georgian frontier ... the girl in blue, the burning barn, the hanging corpse. His past is finally catching up with him.