In 1813, Bella MacDonan is the healer and midwife for the Clans living along the Kildonan River in the pastoral Scottish Highlands. Her peaceful life is threatened when a stranger rides into their glen. He shows Bella a map of land for sale: the ancestral MacDonan homesite. The Highland Clearances have begun. Bella and her husband Alec lead a delegation to Dunrobin Castle hoping to convince the woman who holds the deed to their land, the Countess of Sutherland, to spare them from eviction. Their journey takes a dangerous turn and when her children are threatened, Bella is tempted to use violence in return.