Bastien and Marguerite's first Canadian-born descendants face trials and challenges that are quite different from those experienced by their parents. This family saga continues to unfold as the immigrant couple's sons and daughters marry and establish their own homes and families. As militiamen and voyageurs, their sons and sons-in-law travel thousands of miles inland by way of the western rivers and Great Lakes.

During this period of rapid exploration and extension of the Canadian frontiers, a marked increase in fur exports brings great wealth to France. There develops a struggle for control over the western territories, Hudson Bay trading posts, the Newfoundland and Acadian fisheries, pitting English colonies and the five Iroquois nations against Nouvelle France, Acadia, and their native allies. Meanwhile, British King William III of Orange and French King Louis XIV vie for political, religious, and military dominance in Europe and North America.