Returning home from a three-year stay in London, Jackson Bain finds an expanding New World. America of the 1770s is moving westward. Ignoring his father's wishes and offer to enter the business world of Boston, Jackson is lured by wanderlust to the frontier of Kentucky. While on that adventure, he meets Anna Walker, a beautiful young woman who is fully acquainted with the simple but often arduous life on the edge of civilization. A life-threatening encounter shapes Jackson's future. At the same time, he receives word of a tragedy brought on by his father's greed and desire for control. This episode is literally tearing the Bain family apart. Jackson's unspoken love for Anna Walker takes second place to his necessary search for redemption.