It describes the adventures of an immigrant family who settle near Lake Ontario, despite the threats from the native people and wild animals.

The family is united in their troubles and they pull together to make their farm a success, in the process, dealing with the weather, hostile natives and forest fires.

They are aided by an eccentric but helpful hunter Malachi Bone, and they rescue young Percival from hostile Indians and welcome new immigrants to their farm.

[2] Marryat had visited Canada in 1837,[3] and had acquired several hundred acres of land on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes where he set his work.

[2] The theme of the work probably owes something to the historical romances of James Fenimore Cooper which dealt with frontier and Indian life in the early American days.