Seventeen year old Rebecca Scott remembers the horror of being captured at the age of nine by the warlike Cauhnawago Indian tribe, her family massacred, her home burned to the ground. As "Snow Cloud", she also knows the protection of the peaceful Lenape tribe who rescued her, the tender love of her adoptive mother, Snow Woman. Sheltered as one of their own, Rebecca has not seen a white man in years until the day fur trader Daniel Chamberlain rides into Amigaki village with goods for the tribe.

Fascinated by the handsome colonist, Rebecca is reminded by Snow Woman that her betrothal and marriage to tribe member Gray Wolf is overdue. On her deathbed, Snow Woman extracts a promise from Rebecca that she will marry Gray Wolf. But the rising unrest between colonists, French and British, the growing ire of Indians being forced from their homeland, creates a parallel war within Rebecca's heart.

Pledged to Gray Wolf, in love with Daniel, one foot firmly planted in the Indian community that loved and raised her, the other in her native colonial America, Rebecca is confused and miserable. Unable to watch or stand with the tribe as they turn hostile, raid a settlement and burn a woman to death, Rebecca is shunned by the Lenape. No longer protected by the love of Snow Woman, rejected by the tribe and Gray Wolf, she leaves with Daniel to live with the Crawford family and try to adapt to colonial life.

But life is not simple for a white woman raised by Indians against the backdrop of escalating belligerence between French, British, Indians and colonists. Rebecca must decide if she can trust Daniel's love and Daniel must decide if his love for and loyalty to Rebecca can overcome his growing hostility toward Indians as raids increase and the colonists gird themselves for war.

Shirley Martin has done her homework and packs this novel with period detail, Indian culture and American history. There are some extraneous characters and unnecessary storylines, but the basic conflict of a man and woman trying to balance their love for each other with tricky social issues drives the narrative to it's inevitable conclusion.