An orphan girl raising her brother in the back alleys of London in the years prior to the American Revolution has only one goal in mind: to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. But the government and fate have different plans. She had no room for trust, and the only person she thought she'd ever love was her brother. When she is caught up in a daring and memorable escape to keep her and her brother together, she learns that there is more to life than the bare necessities. Under the disguise of another boy, she works on a ship as a cabin boy and in time saves her brother from death in the wide Atlantic. But the roaring tide of hostility of the coming war sweeps the two siblings up in its folds, and they must decide on which side they will choose. The side of the land that gave them birth, ancestors, and the probability of inherited wealth, or the side that gave them freedom, trust, and love they were missing. This is the story of Joan Anna Rindle, who must make up her mind between the two sides.