Anna Elisabeth is one of the Protestant Settlers who founded the town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, in 1753. Her story is a weaving of hope and hardship, death and survival played out against a backdrop of political intrigue for the domination of North America among the kings of England and France, the Protestant and Catholic churches and their pawns, the Acadians, the Micmac, and the settlers.

Lunenburg is a rocky hillside of forest, not the prepared homesteads they had been expecting. Elisabeth and her husband have five children, no shelter, no crops planted, no experience at frontier life. She is pregnant and about to go into labour. The settlers' strength comes from the resources they find within themselves-and their faith. With rough lumber and a handful of nails they build shelter, survive on military rations and scant crops, erect a church, bear children, live and die.

Elisabeth is strong willed and independent, trained to prepare and use home remedies, an experienced midwife-a healer where there are no doctors. Her skills provide an entrée into all segments of Lunenburg life and quickly lead her along unpredictable paths. Her story is one of resourcefulness, courage, love and duty.