It is the year 1663 and after an unhappy childhood and a long spell in a French orphanage, sisters Marguerite and Marie leave for a new life in Quebec.

Following a difficult sea-crossing the two sisters and their female companions arrive full of hope for a better life, but with very different expectations.

Marguerite, like most of her female companions, hopes to marry and start a family to fulfil the Kings wishes. But Marie has different ambitions and is in search of a career and an adventure.

The sisters stay on a farm with Catherine, a widow with five young boys and thus begins a happy start to their new life in the new world.

But the lives of the two sisters take different paths. Will they fall in love and have the fulfilling lives they hoped for? Or will they end up with very different destinies?