Charles Belliveau is an Acadian. He lives and works in rural Nova Scotia, but he and his people are caught between two world powers. Both France and Britain demand his unconditional loyalty. Charles’s loyalty belongs to God and his family alone.

When the powers that rule his land decide his loyalty cannot be won, he is cast out of Nova Scotia along with every other Acadian who refuses to swear an oath to the Crown. Charles and his family are marched to the transport ships waiting to carry them into exile, and among those ships is one he knows better than any other: the Pembroke, a vessel he refitted with his own hands, never imagining it would one day carry his family away from everything they love.

When a storm scatters the deportation fleet and leaves the Pembroke isolated with only a handful of English sailors aboard, Charles and his fellow deportees seize their one chance. They take the ship and sail in search of freedom, with the British Navy somewhere behind them and an ocean of uncertainty ahead.

Freedom is only the first battle. Staying free is the one that may cost them everything.