In 1763, Jacob, a young Jewish boy, is kidnapped, brought to Philadelphia, and sold into 21 years of indentured servitude to a brutal miller. Through hard work and even harder lessons, he not only survives but thrives, eventually escaping to a frontier settlement where he makes a life for himself and finds love. Alas, he is again forced to flee for his life when he is unjustly accused of murder and he is captured by Iroquois Indians who eventually adopt him into their tribe. Eventually, however, the English force him to leave the Indians, and he succeeds in returning to his love in Pennsylvania. However, he finds the colony swept up in rebellion to the crown and, when a friend is executed as a spy, Jacob joins the rebels and fights with Daniel Morgan as one of his riflemen. But, when the new government rewards the dastardly actions of General Clinton in his slaughter of the Iroquois, Jacob, disillusioned, takes his new wife and a few friends, and leads them over the mountains to the virgin forests beyond where he can live in peace. Unfortunately, of course, peace is hard to obtain and short lived.