A young girl in 17th century France commits a grave sin that ultimately leads her to the charismatic trapper half a world away. Together, they will brave fierce winters, hostile natives and heartbreaking loss in order to fulfill a King's demands to tame a vast wilderness that will one day become a powerful nation. Trained as a midwife by her mother, fifteen year old Catherine Paulo watches helplessly as death tears her family apart. With no options available, she accepts the king's invitation to join hundreds of young women being shipped to the New World to populate an uncivilized land. There, she meets Etienne Campeau, an ambitious trapper looking for an obedient wife. But what he finds in Catherine is a headstrong woman with ambitions of her own. Spanning fifty-eight years, this is a story of resilience and tenacity, rewards and sacrifices, and the enduring legacy of courage that forged a new world.