The strange tale of the two Durie brothers, whose differences portray the conflicts of romance and reason in eighteenth century Scotland, where nothing is at it might seem A prematurely senile old man, blind to his elder son's faults, and to the virtues of the younger, has plans to rescue his mortgaged estates by marrying his heir to wealthy orphan Alison Graeme, entrusted to his care When James is presumed dead at Culloden, he persecutes her to marry Henry, although she loved James Finally the brothers are brought to a bleak and savage end in the trackless wastes of North America