Roberval visits Perigord for the first time, gives Marguerite gold, and orders her to improve her education.

Roberval mortgages Perigord to the Montfort family, forcing Marguerite to move into the cold north tower.

Roberval summons Marguerite and Damienne to live with him in La Rochelle, separating them from Claire and Madame D'Artois.

Roberval physically abuses Marguerite during a psalm lesson for hesitating, and Auguste rushes in to comfort her afterward.

Roberval intercepts Marguerite's secret letter to Madame D'Artois and forces her to recite psalms about punishment for liars.

Marguerite and Damienne board the ship Anne in the harbor and the fleet sets sail for New France.

Auguste confesses his love to Marguerite on the ship's deck during a sleepless night at sea.

Roberval publicly accuses Auguste of an affair with Marguerite and orders him seized and bound by sailors.

Roberval sentences Auguste, Marguerite, and Damienne to exile on an island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

Marguerite and Auguste consummate their love on the island, feeling paradoxically free despite their punishment.

Auguste dies from illness on the island, and Marguerite kills the polar bear that destroys his buried body.

Marguerite gives birth to a son she names Auguste, but the baby dies from lack of food and milk.

Roberval's three ships sail past the island and deliberately leave the stranded women behind.

Damienne dies from an infected knife wound, leaving Marguerite completely alone on the island.

Marguerite corrects the Queen of Navarre's version of her story and receives a reward to open a school for poor girls.

Marguerite begins as a young orphan under the control of her abusive guardian Roberval, who squanders her fortune and forces her to join his voyage to New France. On the ship, she falls in love with Roberval's secretary Auguste, and when Roberval discovers the affair, he exiles Marguerite, Auguste, and her nurse Damienne on a remote island in the gulf. On the island, Marguerite and Auguste live freely together despite their hardship, but Auguste dies of illness and their newborn son follows soon after. Roberval's ships deliberately sail past without rescuing the women, and then Damienne too dies, leaving Marguerite entirely alone. After years of solitary survival, Marguerite secures passage back to France and faces Roberval one last time before the Queen of Navarre. In a final act of defiance, she reclaims her story from Roberval and wins both her freedom and the means to build a new life.

The core story of exile, survival, and reclamation.

Madame D'Artois and her daughter Claire arrive at Perigord to teach; Marguerite envies Claire but the girls become inseparable.

Nicholas Montfort sends Claire persistent love letters and gifts through the young Montfort girls, threatening the women's safety.

Nicholas Montfort dies from infection after being carried home gravely injured from a hunting party.

Marguerite and Claire exchange rings as a pledge to reunite before Marguerite departs Perigord on horseback.

Marguerite attends a banquet in La Rochelle where Roberval and his voyager companions eagerly discuss conquering New France.

Alys secretly takes Marguerite to the city wall of La Rochelle to see the ocean for the first time.

The fleet stalls for days without wind; Roberval hangs four brawling colonists as punishment aboard a sister ship.

Auguste tells Marguerite his life story, including his abusive stepfather, his sister's death, and his escape to La Rochelle.

A whale strikes the ship; Roberval preaches a pointed sermon about sinners, and Marguerite stops her nightly meetings with Auguste.

Jean Alfonse rows Marguerite, Auguste, and Damienne past several islands to one with vegetation and wishes them well.

The exiles discover a massive roost of sea birds to hunt and build a shelter from driftwood on the shore.

Marguerite plants a garden on the island but the poor soil defeats her, and the plants wither after three weeks.

Damienne accidentally cuts her hand with the knife she sharpened herself and develops a fatal infection.

Basque fishermen land on the island and Marguerite hunts birds with them and cooks eggs to earn their trust.

Marguerite arrives at Perigord looking like a beggar, and Claire recognizes her only when she presents the ring.

This pool traces the people and secondary events that shaped Marguerite's path from Perigord to exile and back. Her friendship with Claire deepens against the backdrop of Nicholas Montfort's predatory pursuit of Claire, illustrating the gendered dangers the women must constantly navigate. In La Rochelle, small but meaningful moments — seeing the ocean for the first time, hearing Auguste's painful past — widen Marguerite's understanding of the world beyond Roberval's household. The voyage to New France brings new dangers, including public hangings and a threatening sermon from Roberval, before Jean Alfonse's compassionate act rows the exiles to an island with a chance of survival. On the island, foundational moments — building a shelter, failing a garden, learning of a pregnancy, and eventually negotiating passage home — mark the stages of Marguerite's transformation from sheltered ward to self-sufficient survivor. Her tearful reunion with Claire after returning to Perigord closes this arc with hard-won hope.

The relationships, discoveries, and milestones that shaped Marguerite's journey.

Marguerite discovers that Claire and Madame D'Artois had secretly planned to stay behind at Perigord without telling her.

Roberval gives Marguerite a book of psalms instead of money when she asks him for something to live on.

Auguste confirms to Marguerite that Roberval plans to permanently settle a colony in New France and take her with him.

Roberval announces that Marguerite must join the voyage to New France and ignores her pleas to remain in France.

Marguerite secretly writes a letter to Madame D'Artois begging for rescue and pays Alys to have it delivered.

Marguerite and Auguste begin meeting nightly on the ship's deck, share their first kiss, and speak of their future.

With Roberval away mapping the coastline, Marguerite and Auguste are nearly discovered alone together in her cabin.

Captain Cartier's ships abandon the colony overnight by cutting their anchors, sending Roberval into a fury.

Damienne realizes Marguerite is pregnant after the girl collapses tasting berries near the cave entrance.

As Auguste lies dying, he makes Marguerite practice loading the gun repeatedly until he trusts she can survive without him.

After Roberval's ships sail past without rescuing them, Marguerite decides to survive for the blameless Damienne.

Alone on the island, Marguerite survives a second polar bear attack and keeps one of its claws as a token.

Marguerite witnesses ocean waves freeze instantly in place and, overwhelmed by the sublime, begs God for forgiveness and renewal.

Roberval intercepts Marguerite before her royal audience and reveals he has already told the Queen his own version of events.

The women ride out from Perigord together to open their school, with Marguerite planning to teach girls fearlessness.

This pool focuses on the pivotal revelations and decisions that drove Marguerite's inner transformation from a sheltered ward to a fearless, self-determined woman. Early betrayals — Claire's secret plan to stay behind, Alys's loyalty to Roberval, the psalms weaponized against her — force Marguerite to confront the limits of trust and obedience. On the ship, her relationship with Auguste escalates from stolen kisses to a near-discovery, each step a defiant act against Roberval's control over her life. On the island, crushing turning points — discovering a pregnancy, watching Auguste coach her survival from his deathbed, choosing to live for the blameless Damienne — each test and deepen her will to endure. A profound spiritual crisis leads to a transformative moment of renewal at the frozen sea, where Marguerite finds her way back to herself. Returning to France, she faces Roberval's final manipulation head-on and then rides away from Perigord for the last time, free to build the life she imagined.

The key decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that transformed Marguerite.