A young girl living at three different Hudson's Bay Company posts years for more adventure and freedom than the rules of mid-1800s HBC society allow. Motherless for years, and now orphaned when a hunting accident takes her father's life, Jenna Sinclair is in the care of her prim Aunt Grace, who always finds fault with Jenna's high spirits and tendency to break rules. Jenna finds kindred spirits in her Grandmother, one of the Home Guard Cree who lives near Fort Edmonton, and with her friend Suzanne. But even then, Jenna is still eager to have more freedom, and daydreams of finding Adventure with a capital A. Opportunity knocks after Jenna moves southwest with her newly-married aunt to Fort Colvile, and begs her aunt to let her attend a "real" school at Fort Victoria on Vancouver's Island. With a small brigade, she begins a sometimes harrowing journey down rivers and over mountains to her new life.