In 1757 Hannah Meyer disappears in the sparcely populated backwoods of North America and nothing is heard of her for several years. Only when one of her treasured momentos suddenly appears in Philadephia does it seem she could still be alive, and her younger brother, Joshua, then sets out to find her. Callow and unworldly at first, he slowly grows in mind and body has he treks across the still largely untamed landscape of Pennsylvania, and their individual difficulties unfold as the journey progresses. For Hannah is trapped in a remote and isolated location which she cannot easily leave, and at the moment when a successful reunion seems possible a crazy man with an obsessive grudge awaits his chance to destroy them both.