The new novel concentrates on two absolutely crucial and dramatic years in Boone's life. It opens as Boone returns to the shabby fort at Boonesborough, after escaping from the Shawnee in order to save his white family and friends from attack by the Indians and the Britsôand receives a decidedly mixed reception. Boone juggles his desire to protect the people of Boonesborough, in particular his daughter Jemima (the only one of his children who waited for him), and his love of the Shawnee people, especially his Indian father and wife. After a dramatic siege and successful defence of the fort against a force led by his adopted father, Blackfish, Daniel journeys to retrieve his family and finds a wife who still resents him for their oldest son's death.