The Fiery Cross

The Fiery Cross is a historical fantasy novel by American author Diana Gabaldon. Published in 2001, it is the fifth novel in the Outlander series. This series follows the adventures of Claire Beauchamp, a 20th-century Englishwoman who travels through time to 18th-century Scotland and falls in love with a Highlander named Jamie Fraser. The Outlander series has been adapted into a successful television series of the same name, and a spinoff television prequel series, titled Blood of my Blood, debuted in 2025. The Fiery Cross is set in the American colonies in the 18th century, shortly before the American Revolution. It explores themes including The Burdens of Leadership, Love as the Foundation of Chosen Family, and Masculinity as a Social Construct.

This guide references the 2005 Dell Mass Market edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of rape, racism, religious discrimination, illness, death, graphic violence, animal cruelty, animal death, sexual content, sexual harassment, sexual violence, pregnancy termination, and child death.

Language Note: In keeping with the source text, this guide uses the term “Mohawk,” created by Dutch colonists, to refer to the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka people.

Plot Summary

The novel begins in October 1770, in North Carolina (at that time, a British colony). Claire Beauchamp Fraser and her husband, Jamie Fraser, are attending a Gathering, where Scottish immigrants living in North Carolina have come together to share news, affirm alliances, and participate in rituals such as weddings and baptisms. Claire and Jamie have traveled to the Gathering from their home in Fraser’s Ridge, accompanied by their daughter Brianna, her partner Roger, and her infant son Jemmy, as well as various members of their community.

Claire was born in the 20th century and accidentally traveled through time to 18th-century Scotland, where she met Jamie. They fell in love, but Claire returned to the 20th century while pregnant with Brianna, mistakenly believing that Jamie was about to die. After raising her daughter to adulthood, Claire chose to return to the 18th century to find Jamie and Brianna eventually followed her mother, with Roger, in turn, following Brianna. Claire, Brianna, and Roger all have knowledge of future events from their time in the 20th century, while most of the other characters (including Jamie) have only ever lived in the 18th century. At the Gathering, Roger and Brianna are married. Both Roger and Brianna desperately hope that he is the father of her child, but it is impossible to be sure because Brianna was raped by a man named Stephen Bonnet around the time when Jemmy was conceived.

During the Gathering, Jamie and Claire learn more about recent political unrest. Local men have grown increasingly resentful of heavy taxes and corrupt leadership imposed by the British colonial government; recently, some of these men, known as the Regulators, have engaged in rioting in the nearby town of Hillsborough. Jamie receives word from Governor Tryon that, due to the threat posed by the Regulators, he is required to raise a militia (a group of nonprofessional soldiers who can be mustered to provide military force in response to a specific need). Jamie and Claire return to Fraser’s Ridge, ready to prepare for the coming winter, the raising of the militia, and the never-ending demands of a growing homestead. In December, Jamie and his militia set off, along with Claire, whose skills as a doctor will be needed. However, the Regulators retreat, and Jamie’s militia is permitted to stand down.

In March 1771, Jamie’s wealthy aunt, Jocasta Cameron, marries a man named Duncan Innes. Many guests, including members of the Fraser’s Ridge community, gather at her plantation, River Run. During the wedding celebrations, an enslaved Black woman named Betty dies under mysterious circumstances. While investigating the death, Claire encounters Stephen Bonnet, the man who raped Brianna. Jocasta and her new husband are also assaulted by two men seeking a hoard of gold coins, which they believe to be located at River Run. These mysterious events seem to be connected.

Jamie and Claire devise a theory that a man named Lieutenant Wolff, who had aspired to marry Jocasta, wanted to kill Duncan, and he murdered Betty to avoid detection after she foiled his plot by drinking drugged wine intended for Duncan. They also think that Wolff was working with Stephen Bonnet to steal the gold believed to be hidden at River Run. However, none of this can be proven. Jamie is eager to cross paths with Bonnet because he has been trying to track the man down and kill him in revenge for Brianna’s rape.

Shortly after the wedding, in the spring of 1771, the militia assembles again under Jamie’s command. This time, the British forces engage in active battle with the Regulators at the Battle of Alamance. During the lead-up to this battle, Roger clashes with some of the Regulators, who turn him over to Governor Tryon. They lie to Tryon, claiming that Roger is a leader in the Regulator movement. Roger is hanged and nearly dies; he spends months recovering after the Battle but gradually develops a newfound sense of confidence as Jamie trains him to fight.

For almost a year, Jamie seeks an opportunity to confront Stephen Bonnet while he and Claire resolve many small crises and challenges. By the spring of 1772, Jamie has engineered a plan to meet and entrap Bonnet. He and Roger plan to kill the man, although both Claire and Brianna have hesitations about the plan. In April 1772, the plan is foiled when Jamie and Roger confront two of Bonnet’s conspirators instead, killing them to protect their own lives.

Meanwhile, Bonnet attempts to abduct Jemmy; Brianna shoots him, and Bonnet flees. During this confrontation, Bonnet reveals information about interconnected events related to Jocasta and the gold. He confirms that Wolff wanted to marry Jocasta and hired him to help execute the plan. However, the plan at the wedding failed when Betty drank the poisoned wine instead of Duncan, and Wolff and Bonnet were subsequently unable to find the gold.

With Bonnet and his conspirators safely out of the picture, Claire and Jamie hurry to River Run, where Wolff has been killed by one of the enslaved men who works on the plantation. They help to cover up Wolff’s death, realizing in the process that there is a large store of gold hidden at River Run. With these threats resolved (although Bonnet’s fate is uncertain), the Fraser family feels a greater sense of peace and hopefulness. However, they are aware that the looming Revolutionary War brings grave threats. It seems increasingly likely that Jemmy is capable of time travel, leading to discussions about whether Brianna, Roger, and their child should return to the 20th century, but they ultimately decide to stay.