Sixteen-year-old Cecilia Moore marries Kenneth Black as the first battles of the American Revolution swirl through the southern colonies. What Cecilia wants is to leave Three Sisters Tavern in Wilmington, North Carolina, and be mistress of her own home. What she finds at the lonely Black farm at Rocky Point are neglect and betrayal. Then Kenneth's murder leaves her no choice but to take charge and use her skills to survive. Cecilia has her baby, starts a salt works at Topsail Sound, opens a cheese factory in her kitchen and learns to grow tobacco as a cash crop. She deals with roving vandals, and British troops when redcoats move into Wilmington. With the words of he Declaration of Independence alive in her head, she frees her slaves. Cecilia knows she has played a small part in spreading the sparks of freedom. Then she surprises everyone with her plans for the future in the new state. Cecilia sees fields ripe for harvest in this sequel to the acclaimed "The Anchor - P. Moore, Proprietor."