Doctor James Campbell, a widower, moves to Upper Canada with his three children in the 1830s, and the family and their community deal with adventure and misfortune.
Dr. Campbell is offered a position at a hospital in Toronto. Emma and John sadly make preparations to leave the farm. Captain Sims is visited by his sister who is very critical of his household. She announces she wants to move nearby.
Neil and Larry hope to get jobs with the railroad and travel to Baltimore, but Neil starts to lose interest in travel when he falls for a young woman staying at the Campbells'. The Sims contentiously celebrate their 5th anniversary.
Brother and sister ornithologists come to catch specimens and to sell subscriptions to their manuscript, "Birds of the Canadas". A competitor, an agent for Audubon, steals their owl. The owl escapes and takes refuge in Emma's barn.
Neil Campbell is smitten by Rebecca Sims' cousin Amanda who comes to spend the autumn with the Sims. Rebecca believes Amanda returns his feelings and is quite jealous, but actually Amanda's feelings are for someone else.
Pat Harmon, the blacksmith, is kidnapped by the wife of an escaped convict to remove her husband's shackles. While tracking the convict, Neil Campbell runs into Will Forrester and enlists his help. Pat starts to bond with his kidnappers.
When Cleghorne raises his price to cart produce to York, Capt. Sims and Neil build a raft to go down the Grand River to Lake Erie to connect to a barge to New York. Their trip is plagued with setbacks and several Iroquois are watching them.
Emma grows attached to a gray horse with a black star on her forehead which was given to her father as payment from a patient. Meanwhile an unpleasant stranger is looking for a horse of a similar description who he says was stolen from him.
Joshua Powell and son Nathaniel stop at Logan's Inn on their travels. Joshua impresses the crowd with tales of his great uncle, Daniel Boone. When area farms are raided by strange Indians he is asked to use his tracking skills to find them.
Neil visits and finds his father has injured his back, so he stays to help with the farm. Neil and John are disturbed by the disappearance of a father and son who planned to start a Utopian community and try to solve the mystery.
Neil has been deputized by Constable Payne to witness serving routine summons. While out they see the York coach robbed by the ruthless outlaw Sam Carver. Carver and his men kidnap Harriet Sims. Neil and Constable Payne must rescue her.
Captain Sims and Dr. Campbell go on a hunting trip to stock up on venison for the winter, but they are captured by a man and his severely injured companion who have deserted the Royal Navy after being impressed into service.
Captain Sims' pretentious nephew Kevin comes to visit. Sims' horse Hector dies from a mysterious illness. A strange young woman wearing a dark, hooded cloak is hiding in a deserted old cabin in the woods. The farmers fear she is a witch.
Neil pays a visit to buy horses from Sims. Dr. Campbell's bargaining offends Sims who raises his price. They travel to a stable at Maryhill but find it closed. They buy horses from a scam artist and are chased by the horses' real owners.
Dr. Campbell rescues Molly, a trapper who is being accosted by two men. They instantly dislike each other, but Emma thinks that means they belong together like Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, and tries to throw them together.
Sims runs as a Tory for the House of Assembly, in part so he can name their community 'Simsville'. Dan Bright, an apple grower from Connecticut, wants to run as a Reformer but cannot due to a technicality; so Dr. Campbell takes his place.
After an attack on an army outpost by "yankee renegades", Captain Sims fears a U.S. invasion and decides to form a company of volunteer riflemen with young men from the neighboring farms.
Will Forrester is hurt when he is trampled by a horse while helping the Campbells clear some land. Emma is frustrated by the division of "women's work" and "men's work" on the farm and would like to help her father tend to patients.
Captain Sims invites Sir Reginald, an elderly British fencing champion, to give an exhibition. John is bullied by an older boy, Ned. Captain Sims offers to give John some fencing tips so he can teach Ned a lesson, but Dr. Campbell objects.
Insurrection is in the air in 1830's Scotland with both Neil and Dr. Campbell's Uncle Andrew involved. The life of Duncan Sinclair is saved by chloroform, something new tried by the doctor but viewed with suspicion.
The Campbells arrive in Canada and enjoy dinner at Logan's Inn with innkeeper, Gabrielle Leger, who warns them that their neighbor, Captain Sims, wants their property. Someone is playing dangerous tricks with near fatal consequences.
Dr. Campbell misses the boat to Scotland when he is ordered to care for Lady Helen who has passed out at the docks. Since the next boat does not leave for weeks, he waits at her estate where she hides a Highlander from the authorities.
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