Hawkeye and Chingachgook return to upstate New York after guiding setters to new lands in the West. Hawkeye's younger brother, Tommy Cutler, a sergeant in the British army, has been entrusted with a critical dispatch requesting an immediate relief force be sent from Albany to Fort William Henry, a remote post threatened by the French and their Indian allies. En route, Tommy is murdered by a Indian who is a French agent and accused of being a traitor. It's up to Hawkeye to prove his brother's innocence and prevent the French and the Hurons from capturing the small fort.
—David Bassler