Introduction: The year is 1771, and war is coming. Jamie Fraser鈥檚 wife tells him so. Little as he wishes to, he must believe it, for hers is a gift of dreadful prophecy鈥攁 time-traveler鈥檚 certain knowledge. Claire鈥檚 unique view of the future has brought him both danger and deliverance in the past; her knowledge of the oncoming revolution is a flickering torch that may light his way through the perilous years ahead鈥攐r ignite a conflagration that will leave their lives in ashes....