Eighteen-year-old Anne leaves home to go to college in Kingsport, Nova Scotia, and finds her life expanding in many different ways, including a marriage proposal, the sale of her very first story, and a tragedy that teaches her a painful lesson.

Two half brothers look so similar as infants that no one can tell them apart. One, the legitimate son of a rich man, is destined for a life of comfort, while the other is condemned to be a slave because he is part black. The mother of the would-be slave is also the nurse of the other; to give her son the best life possible, she switches the babies. Soon the boy who is given every advantage becomes spoiled and cruel. He takes sadistic pleasure in tormenting...