Fleeing for her life with only her bow, her beloved horse Pippen, her enormous pet wolf, and the cryptic clues hidden in her mother's medicine journal, Meg Boswell gallops north to her freedom and safety. She is a healer and on the run from the man she believes is her father, the man who falsely accused her mother of witchcraft. He fears Meg holds the letters which her mother intercepted, that prove he is a traitor to the crown. If he catches Meg before she finds the letters, she may very well die like her mother, atop a blazing witch's pyre. Winter winds rip across the Highlands, pressing Chief Caden Macbain forward in his desperate plan to save his clan from starvation. He rides to England to kidnap the beloved niece of his enemy. He will use one innocent woman to bargain for peace and food to save his clan, who after battles with their rivals, hover on the brink of starvation. Meg's prayers are answered when she comes upon a rugged Highland warrior and his band of men after a skirmish with the British, that leaves many of the men wounded. The Highlanders promise to escort her north if she will use her healing abilities to tend to their wounded. Caden can't believe his luck when he realizes that this healer is the very woman he was looking for and she has joined them willingly. When they arrive at his home Meg meets her mother's beloved sister and learns to accept and use the full power of the magical healing abilities that all women in her family possess. In the end, she struggles with the dark responsibility of her abilities when she is captured by her pursuer and she must use her power to cause his death. With Meg's life in danger, Caden realizes that love blurs the lines of duty to clan above all else, and he risks many to save Meg. For although he captured her to force a peace, Meg's strength and courage have captured Caden's heart.