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In the deep winter of 1891, on the Métis settlement of Lac St. Anne, known as Manito Sakahigan in Cree, "Spirit Lake" has been renamed for the patron saint of childbirth. It is here that people journey in search of tradition, redemption, and miracles. On this harsh and beautiful land, four interconnected people try to make a life in the colonial Northwest: Mahkesîs Cardinal, a young Métis girl pregnant by the Hudson Bay Company manager; Moira Murphy, an Irish Catholic house girl working for the Barretts; Georgina Barrett, the Anglo-Irish wife of the Hudson Bay Company manager who wishes for a child; and Gabriel Cardinal, Mahkesîs' brother, who works on the Athabasca river and falls in love with Moira. Intertwined by family, desire, secrets, and violence, the characters live one tumultuous year on the Lac St. Anne settlement--a year that ends with a woman's body abandoned in a well.