Book1 The story begins with the ethnic cleansing of the Scottish Highlands after the Battle of Culloden. After the torching of their home, enduring a winter of hardship, the Mackenzie family decide their only hope for survival is emigration to the New World. Enduring a harrowing passage, they arrive in Virginia where the father is indentured on a tobacco plantation for a portion of the fares. Through determination and effort, they assimilate into the culture. Book 2 The story follows the oldest son as a Lieutenant in the Militia during the French and Indian war. With hostilities ceased, the atmosphere becomes volatile with the colonial rebuff of the many Acts passed by London to defray the debt of the war. At the urging of Benjamin Rush, the youngest son, a graduate with MD from the College of Philadelphia, returns to Scotland to study surgery at Edinburgh University. Astonished at the surge of intellect in the foul smelling medieval city, he revels in the richness of the Enlightenment. With the political situation deteriorating, in a letter his brother urges him to return to Virginia. He is invited to lunch by a college friend, Thomas Jefferson, who is eager to hear his impressions of Edinburgh. As a student at William and Mary, Jefferson was captivated by the egalitarian concepts of the Enlightenment espoused by a young Scottish Professor, William Small. The appreciation is evident in the Declaration of Independence. With the proclamation and the onset of war, the oldest son dusts off his uniform and rejoins the Militia. Book 3, being written, covers the revolution and the war.