It's 1849, and twelve-year-old Addie lives in the shipbuilding town of
Essex, Massachusetts. Her father has left the family to seek gold on the
West Coast, and tragically the flux has ended the lives of her mother
and baby brother, leaving Addie all alone. Fearful of being taken in as
a servant, Addie flees from her house into the snowy woods, where she
endures hunger and bitter cold until Nokummus, an elderly Wampanoag
woman, coaxes Addie to her dwelling.
Now living under the care of the mercurial old woman, Addie slowly
recognizes the truth of her past. Through an intense ancient ceremony
and by force of her own wits and will, Addie must come to grips with the
facts of her newfound identity--and find the courage to build a future
unlike any she could ever have imagined.