Samuel Lount is the Blacksmith of Holland Landing, in the rural Canada of the 1830s. A devoted family man and good neighbour, Lount is also a prominent member of the Children of Peace who are dedicated to pacifism and a life of ascetic spiritual community. But they are an island of calm in a colony that is deeply troubled. While helping a friend who is being persecuted by the corrupt and twisted colonial administration, Lount is gradually drawn into the world of radical politics and befriended by its leader, the fiery William Lyon MacKenzie. Lount is tempted from his religious isolation to run for Parliament, but when political solutions fail, the only recourse is revolution, and Lount is faced with the decision of his life - to let his dreams of a free Canada die, or to betray his religion and become the blacksmith who beat his ploughshares into swords.