In 1779 driven out of his home Calum Mac Donald sets sail from the Scottish Highlands with his extensive family After a long terrible journey he settles his family in 'the land of trees' & eventually they become a separate Nova Scotian clan red-haired & black-eyed with its own identity its own history It is the 1980s by the time our narrator Alexander Mac Donald tells the story of his family a thrilling & passionate story that intersects with history with Culloden where the clans died & with the 1759 battle at Quebec that was won when General Wolfe sent in the fierce Highlanders because it was 'no great mischief if they fall'