In 1776 on the eve of the American War of Independence Charles George MacPherson, a patriotic young American, flees the Mohawk Valley in New York after killing a well-known Loyalist.

He travels to Paris and later to London where he discovers friendships among the people he had presumed to be the enemy, only gradually resolving his conflicting loyalties.

At the heart of his dilemma is his life-long love for the beautiful Mary Graham and his developing friendship with Thomas Graham, her devoted husband and Perthshire laird. But his past from the Mohawk Valley catches up with him and has to be confronted amid the horror of London during the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots.