Faced with dwindling resources and
warring tribes, the
colony on Roanoke Island begins to crumble while one young
housekeeper commits herself to recording her every memory of
the Lost Colony.
In 1587, the 118 men, women, and
children of the "Lost
Colony" were abandoned by their governor on what is now
Roanoke Island, North Carolina, and never heard from
again.
In this fictional journal, Emme Merrimoth—one
of the actual
colonists of Roanoke—recounts the harrowing journey that
brought the colonists to the New World. During the voyage,
Emme becomes involved with Governor John White, who
reassigns her to his household and then asks her to marry
him. With no better prospects and happy to be free of her
bland former employers, Emme agrees.
Once on Roanoke,
the colonist restore the village abandoned
by former English settlers and realize, when faced with
hostile natives, that they have been misled by White. White
plots to return to England to avoid the hardship of the New
World, and he and his supporters drive a hard bargain with
the colonists: they will send back much-needed supplies from
England if they allow White to flee without interference.
Faced with little choice, the colonists agree, and are left
to fare on their own.
Emme, due to a scandalous past,
is accused of witchcraft,
shunned by the colonists, and enslaved by a nearby tribe.
But throughout these dramatic turn of events, Emme commits
herself to putting down on paper her every memory of the
Lost Colony.