Before leaving for England with his treasures, John vows to return to live and protect Suckahanna and her mother. John returns home to find his father, the royal gardener died during his trip overseas. His father left him a note asking John to marry Hester Pooks to help raise his two children from a previous marriage. Leaving his family behind, John flees England for Virginia when civil war seems eminent. He sets up a plantation in Virginia that survives only because Suckahanna and her people help him.
History repeats itself, as war seems imminent between the Powhatan and the Virginia colonists.
The story line centers on John's simple desires to garden turning to inner turmoil due to external forces pulling at him from varying sides. Suckahanna and her mother are genuine players critical to the plot. The colonists and John's English family adds to the lead character's dilemmas.