Fiery-haired Octavia travels far from the drawing rooms of her native England to the new United States' Lake Ontario. Stranded by the War of 1812, she's surprised to find herself drawn to the wildness of a Seneca warrior......Silver Grass, Octavia's daughter, fleeing from the white men's attacks on her people in New York States, finds refuge near Lake Superior with the Chippewa. Her heart dark toward all whites, how can she admit to any attraction when blacksmith and copper miner Olav Johanson courts her?......Elma, older daughter of Silver Grass, raised near Lake Erie by her father and stepmother, favors the Union cause during the War Between The States. Why, then, does she find herself drawn to Confederate prisoner Hunt Drury?......Marta, rebellious younger daughter of Silver Grass, flees her staid home to become a logging camp cook's helper in the wilds of Wisconsin near Lake Michigan. When she meets the son of the wealthy Easterner who owns the camp, she knows his attentions mean only heartache for her. Yet she finds herself unable to resist him......Henrietta, Marta's daughter, lives near Lake Huron. Even as a child, she has her heart set on captaining a Great Lakes boat--an unheard of ambition for a woman. To reach her goal, however, must she give up the love of her life?......Five generations of fiery, stubborn women discovering their destinies beside the five Great Lakes...