This novel is based on the true story of Hanyost Schuyler, whose role in saving the lives of hundreds of Americans besieged at Fort Stanwix in 1777 has long been forgotten. Hanyost does not care about nor understand the stories of fighting in faraway Boston or New York City. He is much more interested in learning the old ways of his Mohawk neighbors and spending time with the young warrior Onatah and his sister Ataentsic. But now that the Revolution is coming closer to the Mohawk Valley, everyone must choose a side. Will he follow his uncle Nicholas Herkimer, the newly appointed general of the rebel militia ? What of his neighbors, Joseph Brant, the war chief of the Mohawks, and his intriguing sister Molly? They have always been good friends to Hanyost, yet their loyalty to King George III is known to all.