While others at St. Bridget's Home for Abandoned Girls dream of adoption, Rose wants only a job and independence until she is hired as maid to Mr. Fountain, an alchemist, and realizes that she, like his grand residence, is filled with magic.

In 1620 an orphaned fifteen-year-old servant girl joins Separatists seeking religious freedom and others aboard the Mayflower as they undertake a perilous journey to the New World.

In Boston in 1775, orphaned fourteen-year-old Hannah is indentured to the family of a British general and begins attending secret meetings disguised as a boy, then passing messages and warnings to the revolutionaries using her beloved horse Promise. Includes historical notes.