In 1815, Isabella Marston, a refined English young lady, is eager to escape her carping mother and constantly quarreling older sisters. Seeing a newspaper advertisement seeking a "lady wife" for a wealthy North American lumberman, she sends a letter and receives a marriage proposal in response. With her maid, her horse, and her dog, she crosses the Atlantic with high expectations, only to receive a heart-wrenching shock on her arrival in the colony...