Clambering into the branches of a tree, a young woman flees flaming arrows and massacre. She will struggle for survival: scour the wilderness for shelter, strive and seek for a new family and a setting where she can belong. For Charis, the world is a maze of hazards. And even if she survives, it is no simple matter to nest among her own kind--the godly, those called Puritans. She may desire companionship, may even fall in love with a man, and may try the strength of female heroism in ways no longer familiar to women in our century.