The time is 1771 and the colony of North Carolina teeters on an uneasy edge - an internal conflict between the colonial aristocratic rich planters and the struggling pioneers of the backcountry is threatening to explode Jamie Fraser is a man of worth - respected by all, born of good family and possessed at last of the land he has longed for But Jamie has a lot to lose His wife, Claire, is known notoriously as a wisewoman or a witch As a traveller from the twentieth century she is all these things and more Her unique view of the oncoming Revolution is both a deliverance and a danger - a torch that may light Jamie's way in the perilous years ahead or the spark that may ignite a conflagration that will leave their lives in ashes