After Jamie is very much not killed at the Battles of Saratoga, he, Claire, and Ian all make it to Scotland safe and well, where they become deeply involved with family matters at Lallybroch. Claire is convinced to return to America when Marsali’s son Henri-Christian becomes gravely ill, but Jamie stays in Scotland. Eventually, he is set to travel back to America along with his sister Jenny, but as they make passage across the ocean, Claire is informed that Jamie’s ship has sunk and there are no survivors. Both Claire and Lord John Grey are devastated, and when Claire is set to be arrested for being a spy, Lord John marries her in order to protect her.

Though Claire and Lord John try to move on and take comfort in each other in Philadelphia, they are shocked to discover Jamie did not in fact drown at sea when he shows up at their home one day. Jamie is furious that Claire and John have consummated their marriage. Chaos and violence ensues, but they all have to flee due to mounting threats from the war. Jamie is then commissioned as a general in the rebel army, but resigns when Claire is badly wounded working as a war surgeon.

The Fraser and MacKenzie families are eventually reunited at Fraser’s Ridge, but they are never far from danger. Brianna has brought back a book from the future that her other father, Frank Randall, had written about Jamie’s life when researching the past, one that was published posthumously. The book has a shocking tale to tell, and states that Jamie will die at the Battle of King’s Mountain. The family are concerned that there is no way to avoid the book’s portent, but when Jamie is shot in battle Claire manages to save him with a kind of mysterious magic that can only be seen by time travelers.