Jamie and Claire discover a burned Dutch cabin with bodies and recall the newspaper article predicting their own deaths.

Ian is found unconscious near Fraser's Ridge after a large band of armed marauders passes through the woods.

Jamie accepts the role of Indian agent to prevent the Brown brothers from claiming the position themselves.

Jamie and Ian meet with Cherokee war chief Bird to negotiate a deal trading guns for the Crown.

Roger discovers Stephen Bonnet hiding at River Run, questioning young Jem about who his father is.

Claire is abducted by Hodgepile's gang after they encounter her and Marsali at the distillery.

Jamie and his crew track down the bandits, rescue Claire, and slaughter the entire group.

Marsali goes into difficult labor and gives birth to Henri-Christian, who is healthy but is a dwarf.

Malva announces she is six months pregnant and names Jamie as the father before both families.

Claire finds Malva with her throat slit in the garden and attempts an emergency cesarean to save the baby.

Brown leads an armed mob to the Big House to arrest Claire and Jamie for Malva's murder.

Christie confesses to murdering Malva and presents his confession to the governor, securing Claire's release.

Jamie leads his men in declaring for the rebellion and defeats MacDonald's Loyalist militia at Moore's Creek Bridge.

Mandy is born with a heart defect that Claire cannot treat in the 18th century.

Donner's gang invades the Big House searching for gemstones; spilled ether ignites and burns the house down.

The novel opens with Jamie and Claire discovering evidence of violent marauders threatening the colonial frontier, while a newspaper prophecy about their own deaths haunts them. As Jamie navigates dual roles as Indian agent and secret rebel, Claire is kidnapped and brutalized by a gang of bandits before being rescued by her husband. The community is then upended when Malva Christie falsely accuses Jamie of fathering her child, leading to her murder and Claire's imprisonment far from home. Tom Christie sacrifices himself to free Claire, while Jamie openly declares for the American Revolution and leads his men to victory at Moore's Creek Bridge. The birth of Mandy with an unfixable heart defect forces the family toward an impossible choice, and the novel closes with Donner's desperate search for gemstones burning the Big House to the ground.

The headline events of war, kidnapping, and the burning of Fraser's Ridge.

Roger forces himself on Brianna in the barn at the McGillivray engagement party while the children sleep nearby.

The Brown brothers arrive at Fraser's Ridge and declare themselves heads of the local Committee of Safety.

Christie undergoes painful hand surgery without ether, enduring it while Jamie holds him down and reads the Bible aloud.

Roger and Jamie discover a homestead with hanged bodies; Roger suffocates a fatally burned girl to end her suffering.

Wendigo Donner reveals himself to the captive Claire as a time traveler desperate to return to his own era.

Mrs. Bug smothers the captive Lionel Brown to death with a pillow after he boasts of his revenge plans.

Jamie, Claire, Ian, and Bird escort Lionel's body to Brownsville to confront Richard Brown with Cherokee backing.

Fergus abandons his family after Henri-Christian's birth, overwhelmed by fear of what life holds for a dwarf child.

Old Mrs. Wilson appears to revive at her own funeral, delivering final words before dying of an aortic aneurysm.

Jamie secretly commissions Robin McGillivray to build 30 muskets to arm the Cherokee.

Manfred confesses to Claire that he contracted syphilis from a prostitute and flees before she can treat him.

Ute McGillivray attacks Claire and publicly shuns the Fraser family because of Manfred's syphilis scandal.

Brianna is kidnapped from her horse by Bonnet's men, acting on orders from the lawyer Forbes.

Brianna shoots Bonnet in the head to spare him from slowly drowning at his court-ordered execution.

Arch Bug confesses to stealing Jocasta's hidden gold; Jamie banishes him and Mrs. Bug from Fraser's Ridge.

Beyond the main plotline, Fraser's Ridge is alive with smaller but significant dramas that reveal the violence and moral complexity of 18th-century colonial life. Roger and Brianna navigate marital tensions, while the Brown brothers' rise to power and a series of brutal homestead attacks create mounting dread across the community. The bandit crisis reaches a dark resolution when a captive Lionel Brown is taken and Mrs. Bug administers her own justice, forcing Jamie to confront vigilante morality. Community bonds are tested further by Henri-Christian's birth, Manfred's syphilis scandal, and the McGillivray family's public shunning of the Frasers. The Bonnet threat reaches its conclusion when Brianna is kidnapped again before being rescued, and a long-hidden secret about stolen gold finally surfaces in the novel's final pages.

The secondary dramas of community life on the eve of revolution.

Claire assures Jamie she would not kill herself or her family if he died, unlike the Dutch woman.

Brianna stores a jar of highly flammable white phosphorus from Lord John in Claire's surgery room.

Malva Christie begins quietly apprenticing with Claire as a medical assistant, showing remarkable aptitude.

Brianna reveals to Jamie the history of the Trail of Tears, warning him of the Cherokee's future destruction.

Claire successfully tests her homemade ether anesthesia on both Lizzie and Bobby in a controlled experiment.

Roger confesses to Jamie that he feels called to become a Protestant minister, before telling Brianna.

Claire nearly dies from dysentery; Roger prays over her bedside and she regains consciousness.

Fergus attempts suicide, believing his family would be better off without him; Jamie saves and confronts him.

Jamie publicly declares himself a rebel and a supporter of liberty to members of the Committee of Correspondence.

Ian brings Brianna to a mammoth skeleton and confesses his guilt over his unbaptized Mohawk daughter's soul.

Lizzie's pregnancy by both Beardsley twins is discovered; she refuses to choose between them, forcing Jamie to intervene.

Claire confirms Roger is Jem's biological father after recognizing a hereditary mole on Jem's shaved head.

Jamie's illegitimate son William is unexpectedly introduced at Bonnet's execution, recognizable by his resemblance to Jamie.

Brianna and Roger travel through the stones back to the future with Jem and Mandy; Jamie and Claire choose to stay.

Allan Christie confesses at Malva's grave to years of abuse and her murder; Ian shoots him with an arrow.

Beneath the headline drama, the novel is driven by a series of quieter but devastating turning points that reshape every life on Fraser's Ridge. White phosphorus is casually stored in Claire's surgery, Malva begins a medical apprenticeship that will end in tragedy, and the family grapples with what history has already decided and what they might still change. Illness, suicide attempts, and religious callings force each character to confront who they truly are, while hidden truths about paternity, forbidden love, and Ian's lost Mohawk family are finally brought to light. Jamie's public declaration as a rebel and Brianna and Roger's eventual journey through the stones mark the point of no return for this family. The novel closes with the truth of Malva's murder exposed at last, leaving Jamie and Claire alone but recommitted to their fight.