The Province of Maine has a particularly rich early history. In the early 1600s the English and the French arrived, intent on discovery and settlement and the native Wabanaki responded with valiant efforts to defend their homeland. This book describes that 150-year long period of European settlement and Wabanaki fight for sovereignty in three parts.

The first outlines the discovery period (1600 to 1630), when explorers, including Samuel de Champlain, George Waymouth, and John Smith, arrived and scoured the coast's nooks and crannies. This was a period of great upheaval in the Wabanaki community, embroiled in a significant internal conflict between the eastern and western tribes, as well as a monumental epidemic caused by European diseases.

The second part describes the early conquest period (1630 ? 1675), during which Sir Ferdinando Gorges established several successful settlements in Maine. At the end of this period, Oliver Cromwell rose to power in England, and Gorges, a royalist, lost control of the Province to the Puritans of Massachusetts.

The final section of the book covers the series of Euro-Wabanaki Wars (1675-1760), in which the French supported Wabanaki attempts to expel the English from Maine's frontier. This protracted struggle ended when France and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, which ceded all of Maine to Great Britain. The weary and depleted Wabanaki had no choice but to give up their fight for sovereignty and accept British rule.