Book is in French Waterford, Ireland, 1847. A tragedy befalls the noble McDoughan family: the patriarch, a Catholic member of the British parliament, is assassinated. To protect his family and escape famine, Sean, the eldest of the siblings and a doctor, goes into exile in Lower Canada with his wife, his three young daughters and his servant. For his part, Matthew, the younger brother, chose to enlist in the revolutionary party of Young Ireland. During the sea voyage, Sean notices that typhus is raging mercilessly on the boat. Many passengers died. Finally arriving in Canada, the survivors are quarantined on an island in the St. Lawrence, battered by winds and waves, in the hope of containing the spread of the terrible disease. But this stage has several pitfalls in store for the McDoughans... Will the clan manage to recover from this odyssey of misfortune and thwart its disastrous destiny?