In 1649, Dutch engineer Jan Brunt arrives in Great Britain to work on developing an expanse of marshy wetlands known as the Great Level. When he meets Eliza, he helps to educate her, even as her love overturns his ordered vision. After Eliza uses her newfound knowledge to sabotage his work, Jan flees to the New World. His prosperous new life is rattled, however, when a boy delivers a note that prompts him to remember the Great Level, and confront all that was lost there. But in Stella Tillyard's evocative novel, Eliza has come to America and is using the education Jan gave her to find her own place of freedom.