Summary

The first chapter is narrated by Alice Bradford. She narrates in the first-person past from a narrative present which is not entered into. She says she remembers the day in 1630 when the first colonist was murdered, but she does not give details about the murder. She says that they had thought themselves to be in God’s favor and above murder. Their village, Plymouth, was divided between Puritans, who had power, and the non-believers, who were mostly former indentured servants. Alice saw a ship, The Gifte, approaching and new that it was bringing new colonists and investors.

The next chapter is narrated in the third-person past with a focus on John Billington, who was a former indentured servant. There were 300 people in Plymouth now, but he had come over on the Mayflower ten years prior and had worked off his servitude. However, the...