A shock is in store for well-bred young Toronto lady Kathryn when she travels to Alberta to live with her aunt.

After the death of her father, Kathryn must go to live with her Aunt Belle in Alberta in 1901. Arriving at Buffalo Hills, Kathryn is horrified to learn her new home is a group of shacks called River Falls, a Métis community. Never having known her true heritage, Kathryn is further shocked to discover it's not even a permanent home. Barred from owning land, the Métis must find a way to live in the road allowances, or ditches – the strips of government land between the public highway and the private properties of recognized citizens. Excitement comes in the form of a mysterious stranger known as the Highwayman, a shadowy Robin Hood figure who rights wrongs against the Métis people in his own way. When he is framed for a crime he did not commit, and Aunt Belle becomes involved, Kathryn must use all her resources to prove their innocence – and challenge the deep-seated beliefs of an entire community.