Stately Hawking Manor, home to three generations of Carstairs holds ominous secrets. An act of revenge on the road to London brings some of these to light. But with the coming of age of the next generation of Carstairs new secrets are born. From childhood Henry, Samuel and Meredith's oldest son, distresses them with his dark side. In a desperate attempt to curb Henry's wild ways they enlist him with the Dragoons. But the years with the Horsemen lead to a friendship with Eugene Fairham an unscrupulous brawler who loves the night. Not the Dragoons but Louisa, a beautiful, headstrong woman manages to bridle Henry. Benjamin, the younger Carstairs son, is bright and angelic looking, but not without mischief. Celebrating his private school studies with Henry and his friend. Eugene tricks him and slips him onto the Fortune Four, a Packet Ship raising anchor to sail to North America. There Benjamin turns his plight into an adventure and seeks to make good his promise to his late uncle to find his wife and daughter captured several years earlier by a band of enemy warriors. Benjamin ventures into dangerous, uncharted territory in his search for Clarissa. But the vastness of the continent with its many dangers, his loneliness after months on horseback bring him near to despair. An unexpected meeting with a former friend gives Benjamin new hope to find his cousin and be able to return home. After facing many dangers for months in the wilderness, it is at home where Benjamin faces his greatest danger. To overcome this deadly danger Henry and Benjamin must unite and become the brothers they were born to be