Matt and Jenny

After the death of their father, Matt and Jenny and their mother leave England for Nova Scotia. When their mother dies of typhoid while at sea, the children fear that the captain will return them to England or else place them in an orphan's home in Montreal. They escape in Halifax but are falsely accused of theft. Adam Cardston comes to their rescue, offering to take them to their uncle's farm.

Adam, Kit and the children meet Washington, a Black lumberjack carrying his injured companion away from a forest fire caused by a recent lightning storm. Kit, a young man of the wilderness, and Washington brave the fire to find whether Matt and Jenny's relatives have settled on a nearby farm, while Matt, Jenny and Adam endure a harrowing canoe ride down the river with the injured logger.

Matt and Jenny hitch a ride with the Bellinis, a circus family driving their one-wagon caravan through the wilderness. During the journey, the children learn that the Bellinis are fleeing a charge of theft from the circus they worked for in Montreal. Matt notices a mysterious man following them as the caravan is threatened by a series of accidents.

Matt and Jenny meet Cokah, a local Native American boy. When Kit asks Cokah's father, Takomis, who is also the tribal chief, about the boy's background, he learns that Cokah is a white boy whom the tribe found alone in the forest 15 years before and raised as one of their own. Cokah discovers the location of his birth parents and must choose where his destiny lies.

With Adam's help, Matt and Jenny hope to find their lost relatives at a mysterious religious community. They find the community deserted. In the church, they find evidence that Matt and Jenny's aunt and uncle had been there. Meanwhile, Adam catches sight of a shadowy figure in the trees and the children are convinced that something dreadful has happened to their relatives.

Kit gives Matt and Jenny several tests to prove their ability to survive in the wilderness. However, the tests soon become reality for both children: Jenny loses her way in the forest, and while Matt is exploring an abandoned mine, the mine caves in, trapping him inside. Jenny and Kit must find each other and rescue Matt before it's too late.

While traveling through the rugged frontier, Matt, Jenny, and Cardston come across a young woman in dire circumstances. She is a homesteader, visibly pregnant and on the verge of giving birth, and her husband is suspected to have deserted the military by hiding away from the draft. Matt, Jenny, and Cardston step in to offer their help.

A determined young woman named Samantha Shelborne arrives in town seeking a guide to the treacherous region known as Devil's Gorge. Samantha ventures into the wilderness to find her husband, who vanished there with another man months earlier. Samantha sets up camp, unaware that a mysterious, masked figure with a golden eagle on his arm is watching her every move. Kit sets out to find Samantha.

Adam takes Matt and Jenny to visit Captain Herbert Ramsbottom, hoping he may know the whereabouts of the children's aunt and uncle. The captain's great ambition, however, is to provide the mast for the lead ship in her majesty's fleet. The absent-minded Ramsbottom enlists Matt and Jenny to help him find a tree for the mast, but they end up getting lost in the woods.

While exploring Pocomoonshine Swamp, Matt and Jenny are frightened by a wild cry, causing them to rush back to their camp. They both fall, and are surprised to find a man standing over them. He shares a tale about Jean Big Canoe, a man who was murdered long ago. The ghostly cry that echoes through the swamp is believed to be his.

Stopping at a schoolhouse for information concerning the children's aunt and uncle, Adam is captivated by the lovely teacher, Angela Masters, and he enrolls the children in school-much to Matt's displeasure. The teacher, however, in her zealous desire to shape the children's future, seeks custody of Matt and Jenny, but Adam feels that they should have the freedom to choose their own destiny.

Kit, Matt and Jenny are sharing a meal with trapper Jean Louis and his wife, Simone, in their cabin when the sounds of a fiddle from outside sends Jean Louis into a panic. He claims that the fiddle player, Joe LeBeau, has made a pact with the devil and has put a curse on him for marrying Simone, Fiddle Joe's former girlfriend.

Matt and Jenny encounter Barnabas Bletcher, a charismatic peddler making his way across the frontier. Bletcher draws crowds with his promise of a "miracle" tonic. His biggest draw, however, is a wrestling bear that he pits against challengers for a $50 prize. Matt and Jenny have to help Bletcher when a pair of hoodlums try to steal his belongings and his performing bear.

Ignoring warnings about wolves in the area, Matt, Jenny, and Kit venture to a remote campsite to find the children's relatives. They find only a woman who informs Kit that everyone else has left because of the wolves. Kit is doubtful of her tale, and when her husband returns, he shares a bizarre story about encountering a half-man, half-wolf creature in the woods.

The sound of drums draws Cardston, Matt and Jenny to the site of a secret Native American ceremony. Hidden in the bushes, they watch a shaman perform chants over a sick boy. Cardston, who has an interest in medicine is intent on helping the tribe in order to cure the chief's son, although the shaman is distrustful, believing that a curse hangs over his people.

While helping Rosemary Davenport search for her father, Cyril-a wildlife photographer-Kit finds himself increasingly drawn to the lovely young woman. Meanwhile, the eccentric and somewhat absent-minded Cyril Davenport pursues his reluctant, and sometimes dangerous, photographic subjects, oblivious to the potential peril they present.

Matt, Jenny and Adam encounter young Joey Sherwood riding a racehorse. Adam recognizes Joey's father, Pete, as a renowned racehorse trainer, but Pete has left that life behind, now a poor farmer owing significant debts to the Major, a local landowner. Joey, against his father's wishes, is determined to race against the Major's son and use the winnings to pay off his father's debts.

In the forest, Kit and Matt encounter Oquaga and his son. Oquaga has a magical bow, an heirloom of his people, and shares that his grandson, Tioga, is venturing into the "Big Empty" to prove his manhood. He warns them that this area is inhabited by Skiba, a spirit bear that is invincible. Matt wanders into the woods, unknowingly entering Skiba's territory.

Book publisher Harry Alfred Teasdale hires Kit to guide him to the wilderness cabin of writer L. M. Galloway. The next morning, Kit arrives to meet Teasdale, but discovers he left hours earlier. When Adam, aware of Teasdale's shady dealings, learns Teasdale is nearby, he and Jenny rush to warn Galloway but arrive to find that Teasdale has already been there and taken Galloway's manuscript.

The shady book publisher Harry Alfred Teasdale runs into the backwoods Grogan brothers, who take his clothes and proceed to burn everything they find in his bags. As the Grogans ponder his fate, he offers to write the brothers' memoirs so that they turn him loose. Cardston catches Teasdale and engineers a mock trial to scare the disreputable book publisher into mending his evil ways.

A startling newspaper story brings Adam to Fort Abernackie where he finds his woodsman friend Kit behind bars, charged with the murder of one of the settlement's leading citizens. Adam demands to see Kit before "hanging judge" Willoughby arrives for the trial. Meanwhile, Matt and Jenny, also on their way to help Kit, are picked up on the trail by none other than the judge.

The adventurous trio, Matt, Jenny, and Kit, encounter Martha, a courageous women's rights activist who finds herself in grave danger. The activist has been advocating for women's rights; however, her efforts to challenge societal norms have provoked a violent backlash from a group of hostile men in her town. Kit and the children must help Martha escape being tarred and feathered.

Adam and the Tanner children meet Adelaide Alcott, an actress who had introduced Adam to the world of acting. Matt is smitten with Adelaide, and when she invites him and Adam to join her in her next New York play, they both agree. However, Adelaide's manager is displeased with Adam's involvement and hires two thugs to intimidate him and deter him from returning to the stage.

A bearded farmer named Hezekiah Pike deceives Matt and Jenny into coming to his farm by claiming their relatives are there. Once they arrive, Pike and his wife force them into hard labor alongside a kidnapped boy. Meanwhile, Adam and Kit, discovering that the children have gone with Pike, set out to rescue them.