The year is 1810. Captain David Buchan arrives at the Bay of Exploits. He sent there with a mission to establish relations with the Beothuk, or "Red Indians," as they like to call them. The Beothuk are the original inhabitants of Newfoundland. The problem: they’re facing a rapid extinction.
Buchan goes straight to the most influential and prominent white settlers of the area, the Peytons, in search of alliance and support on his mission. However, instead of greeted with friendly companionship, Buchan is faced with year long grudges and shadowy alliances. It’s all a confusing and discouraging welcome. It’s too much for Buchan to even comprehend. But not all hope is lost. Buchan does make a close companion and ally in John Peyton Jr. John is torn between trying to please his father, who is an overbearing and tyrannical patriarch with a deadly affiliation of terrible treatment of the Beothuk, and his own struggling conscience. He doesn’t want to upset his father, but he feels in his heart that he must not continue this ruthless behavior.
Then there’s Cassie, the fiercely strong and independent, secretive woman who runs the Peyton household. Cassie is also in her own world of self rupture; she secretly wants to support John but she has a deep loyalty to John Senior as well as a relentless desire to maintain her own independence. Buchan gets into trouble with his Red Indian expedition. This manages to deepen and further fracture the already precarious father-and-son relationship in the Peyton family.
Years pass. A new expedition to the Beothuk's winter camp commences, this time headed by the Peyton clan. Unsurprisingly, things go deeply astray; an Indian woman gets kidnapped and her husband gets murdered. Things are not going well. Something isn't quite right. Buchan comes once again to investigate the scene.
He is presented with an array of stories and lies to cover up the impending truth. But slowly, Buchan starts to unravel the tightly woven string of deception and cover ups. He does his best to get to the bottom of what really happened at the Red Indians’ lake. What does he start to uncover? A carefully woven web of “obligation and debt” that he finds to be the backbone of the Peyton forefront, the only things holding it together.
This story is that of a certain group of colonists facing the tragedy of “miscommunication and loss” that ultimately tore their world apart. It is set in a very violent and savage time, with no technology, heavy feuds between differing peoples, and grit that can lead to tragedy because of pride and troubling family histories. Though told from the perspective of only one group, it can be argued that this story symbolizes all of humankind. Gripping and enthralling, the captivating and extraordinary set of characters keep you glued to the end.
