Will Rees

Will Rees is back home on his farm with his teenage son, his pregnant wife, their five adopted children, and endless farmwork under the blistering sun. But for all that, Rees is happy to have returned to Dugard, Maine, the town where he was born and raised and where he's always felt at home. When a man is found dead - murdered - after getting into a public dispute with Rees, Rees starts to realize someone is intentionally trying to pin the murder on him. Rees can feel the town of Dugard turning against him.

Fresh from facing allegations of witchcraft and murder, travelling weaver Will Rees, his heavily pregnant wife Lydia, and six adopted children take refuge in Zion, a Shaker community in rural Maine. Shortly after their arrival, screams in the night reveal a drowned body, but is it murder or an unfortunate accident? The Shaker Elders argue it was just an accident, but Rees believes otherwise. As he investigates further, more deaths follow, and a young girl vanishes from the community. Rees must rush to uncover the truth before the dreams can become reality, and more lives are lost.

In the depths of winter, Hortense, a midwife, disappears after attending a birth in the woodlands. During the search, Will Rees finds her struggling through the snow and woods without shoes or a coat. After two young men begin stalking the community in search of her - including targeting Rees’ own family - she is questioned further and claims she was kidnapped...but Rees and his wife Lydia are suspicious.

It's the 1790s, and the circus has arrived in Durham, Maine. Before weaver Will Rees is able to take in its spectacle, he spots Magistrate Hanson - the man he blames for his family's having to flee Dugard two years earlier. On his journey home he encounters Shaker brothers searching for a girl from their Zion community. Despite women not being allowed inside the circus, Leah had snuck out to visit it. They quickly come across her lifeless body beaten and thrown into a farmer's field on the road leading to the circus.

September 1800, Maine. Will Rees is beseeched by Tobias, an old friend abducted by slave catchers years before, to travel south to Virginia to help transport his pregnant wife, Ruth, back north. Though he's reluctant, Will's wife, Lydia, convinces him to go...on the condition she accompanies them. Upon arriving in a small community of absconded slaves hiding within the Great Dismal Swamp, Will and Lydia are met with distrust. Tensions are high and a fight breaks out between Tobias and Scipio, a philanderer with a bounty on his head known for conning men out of money.

November 1800, Maine. After helping their longtime friend Tobias escort his wife, along with a liberated slave and her child, from the Great Dismal back to Durham, Will and Lydia Rees’ lives are interrupted when a dead body is found near their home. The body is that of Mr. Gilbert, a slaveholder from the Great Dismal. Was he murdered in pursuit of the former slaves?

January, 1801. When Lydia’s estranged father is accused of murder, Will Rees escorts her to Boston to uncover the truth. Marcus Farrell is believed to have murdered one of his workers, a boy from Jamaica where he owns a plantation. Marcus swears he’s innocent. However, a scandal has been aroused by his refusal to answer questions and by accusations that he bribed officials. As Will and Lydia investigate, Marcus’s brother, Julian, is shot and killed. This time, all fingers point towards James Morris, Lydia’s brother. Is someone targeting the family?