In this first of the trilogy, Quince Melville, a plucky lad, holds the post of reader in the mills that produce the cloth along the rivers of this New England. His scurrilous adventures with the ladies of the mill and others bring both pleasure and pain and further adventures. A loyalist to King George, he encounters people, places, and points of view that start to test his loyalty to old England. An adroit opportunist, his affaires d'amour stimulate his sensual proclivity as well as his politics. In this first of three volumes, we follow Quince's transformation from bon vivant adhering to the king's wishes to a young man guided by the likes of Franklin, Adams, and others to a brave and integral part of the impending revolution.