Escaping from a bad marriage is challenging in any age. It was fraught with danger in 17th century New France when a runaway bride could expect censure from society and Church, even if she found an honest way of earning a living. Adèle was among the young women sent from France to marry in the young colony along the St. Lawrence River. Unusual because she was literate, Adèle is miserably matched with an abusive farmer. She is helped to escape to Quebec by a coureur-de-bois and rebuilds her life, claiming to be a widow. She has work, friends and a faithful dog but the only man to whom she can speak from the heart is promised to her friend. Adèle's imagined story of adversity,heartache and eventual happiness unfolds against the background of a seminal period in Canadian history.