When the convent she has been living in burns down, 12-year-old orphan Lisette barely escapes with her life. The nuns think she died in the fire ; Lisette sees a chance to escape the drudgery of lacemaking under a cruel, greedy Mother Superior. She sets out alone to find the uncle who left her at the convent when she was six, yet things don't quite go as she planned. When an opportunity arises to escape her torubles in France and start a new life at the Fortress of Louisbourg, clever and resourceful Lisette jumps at the chance. But is someone following her?