June 1811. Alban, a young French soldier, is forcibly conscripted into the troops being sent to Louisiana by Bonaparte. Accused of murder, he deserts and is taken in by a Native American tribe thanks to the trapper Toussaint Charbonneau, known as "Frenchman," and his wife Sacagawea. Seven years later, he decides to return to his family in Europe, unaware that his sister has traveled to Philadelphia in search of him to bring him back to France. To make matters worse, Alban encounters a group of Shawnee warriors and a band of battle-hungry militiamen on his journey. A confrontation seems inevitable.