A couple from Virginia with a child seek safety in the fort, only they aren't the baby's parents, but uncle and aunt. When the baby is stolen by Hurons, Elizabeth goes to the camp to bring the white child back, even if she has to raise the child herself. What she doesn't realize is why the Hurons took the baby in the first place, to raise it in place of the baby they lost. Elizabeth has a hard decision to make. Ultimately, Elizabeth realizes the cost of stealing the child back will bring about more deaths and that the Huron couple will raise the child with love.

An old friend of Hawkeye's shows up just after two Delaware Native Americans are murdered and scalped, and a third gets away, but is seriously wounded. Harry had found Hawkeye at age thirteen and taught him the ways of the woods, but Harry has changed and not for the better. His jealousy of Hawkeye and his past love leads to murderous intentions.