In 1684, wearing his father's faded cap, eleven-year-old Pierre Talon joins explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier on an ill-fated expedition to seek the Mississippi River, but after the expedition falls apart Pierre, deathly ill, is taken in by Hasinai Indians. Includes historical facts.

When Alena and her family move onto new farmland out on the prairie, they must live at first in the chickenhouse because there is no time to build a house before winter; then with the warm weather comes the excitement of watching the big new house go up.

Elviry decides that her family really needs to celebrate Christmas in their new home in the Michigan woods even though it will not be the same since her mother died.