When an injury prevents his father from going into northern Canada with fur traders, thirteen-year-old Pierre decides to take his father's place as a voyageur.

In 1867, fifteen-year-old Sean experiences both hardships and rewards when he joins his father in working on the building of the Transcontinental Rairoad.

"It's August 1867 and Sean has just arrived from Chicago, planning to work with his father on the Transcontinental Railroad. Sean must start at the bottom, as a water carrier, toting barrels of it to the thirsty men who are doing the backbreaking work on the line. At night, everyone is usually too tired to do anything but sleep, yet Sundays are free, and Sean discovers the rough and rowdy world of the towns that seem to sprout up from nowhere along...

When Russian troops invade Finland during the winter of 1939-40, Marko, a young polio victim determined to keep his homeland free, joins the Finnish Army as a messenger boy.