In 17th-century England, a young man named William Fletcher falls in love with his cousin Alice Fletcher. His uncle, the wealthy Sir William Fletcher, refuses to consent to their marriage or bequeath his fortune to his nephew unless William renounces his Puritan sympathies. William refuses, and he and Alice are separated. William marries a young woman named Martha instead and moves to the new American colony in New England. Alice marries Charles Leslie and has two daughters, Alice and Mary.
A few years later, William moves with his family to Springfield, on the western Massachusetts frontier, and establishes a homestead he names Bethel. One day, his friend John Winthrop, governor of the colony, sends news that William’s old love, Alice, was recently widowed and traveled to the colonies, but she died soon after, leaving her daughters to his care. To help the Fletchers with this unexpected expansion of their household, Governor Winthrop has also sent them two American Indian children, Magawisca and Oneco, as servants. These children, too, recently lost their mother; their father, Mononotto, is a feared Pequot chief. Magawisca has already arrived at Bethel; Mr. Fletcher travels to Boston to fetch Oneco and the Leslie sisters. Mr. Fletcher has the girls renamed Hope and Faith.
Mr. Fletcher is delayed in Boston for several months, keeping Hope with him. At Bethel, the eldest Fletcher, Everell, befriends Magawisca. They exchange favorite stories, and Everell teaches her how to read. Magawisca also tells Everell about her memories of the Pequot War, in which much of her tribe and family were killed; her perspective challenges Everell’s view of American Indian violence, as some Indian raids were provoked by settlers’ violence.
The next day, the family is happily anticipating Mr. Fletcher’s return from Boston when Mononotto and a small group of warriors attack Bethel. Magawisca tries to intervene, but most of the Fletchers, with the exception of Everell, are brutally killed. Everell and Faith Leslie are taken captive into the forest; Magawisca goes with them. Hours later, Mr. Fletcher arrives home with Hope Leslie to the horrible discovery of the killings.
Mononotto takes Magawisca and Everell to a remote Mohawk village, where he attempts to sacrifice Everell in retaliation for the murder of his own son, Samoset, during the Pequot War. However, Magawisca intervenes on Everell’s behalf at the last second, getting her arm cut off. Everell flees back to Bethel.
Five years later, Hope Leslie writes to Everell, now her good friend, who’s studying in England. At Bethel, Hope is Mr. Fletcher’s doted-on adoptive daughter. She has gained a reputation for being outspoken—like when she addresses the Springfield magistrates to argue that Nelema, a local American Indian woman, should not be prosecuted for alleged witchcraft. She even helps Nelema escape from imprisonment. After this episode, Hope is sent to Boston to live with the Winthrops, where Mr. Fletcher hopes she will learn to be more submissive.
The following spring, Everell returns to Massachusetts and reunites with Hope and her best friend, Esther, a much more pious and reserved girl who harbors romantic feelings for Everell (having previously met him in England). The Fletchers and Winthrops are also introduced to another visitor from England, a suspiciously dapper Puritan named Sir Philip Gardiner, who, lacking other prospects, quickly decides to pursue Hope. Meanwhile, Governor Winthrop and Mr. Fletcher discuss the young people’s futures, deciding that Esther is a suitable mate for Everell, and that Hope—who is still too carefree—needs to be quickly settled with an authoritative husband, perhaps Sir Philip. But Hope privately conspires to get Everell and Esther together, ignoring her own suppressed feelings for Everell.
One night Hope has a secret rendezvous with Magawisca, who has snuck into Boston under the guise of being a moccasin saleswoman. Magawisca reveals that Hope’s sister Faith has married Oneco and cannot assimilate into English society again, but that Magawisca will fulfill her long-ago promise to Nelema to bring the sisters together.
Meanwhile, it turns out that Sir Philip is a down-on-his-luck, unscrupulous adventurer (and a secret Roman Catholic, no less) who hates the Puritans and has become obsessed with Hope Leslie. He is traveling with a friendless young girl, Rosa, who disguises herself as a male page named Roslin. These facts remain hidden for the time being, however.
Hope successfully engineers a trip to Governor Winthrop’s island estate in order to meet with Magawisca and her sister in private. The rest of the household comes along, however, and over the course of the day, Hope both discovers her own romantic feelings for Everell and accidentally entangles Everell in a semi-engagement to Esther, which he emphatically doesn’t want. In her heartbreak, she coldly rebuffs Sir Philip. That night, she achieves her long-desired reunion with Faith, but, as Magawisca had warned, Faith is fully integrated into Oneco’s Pequot family and remembers little of her childhood. Before Hope can persuade Faith to stay with her in Boston, a group of the Governor’s men, tipped off by Sir Philip, captures Magawisca and Faith, and Oneco snatches Hope in retaliation. After Oneco abducts her in his canoe, Hope is briefly shipwrecked on an island with some drunken sailors, then manages to escape by convincing a pious Italian sailor, Antonio, that she is an apparition of his patron saint and she requires a boat ride back to town.
Sir Philip brought about Magawisca’s arrest in hopes of currying both Hope’s favor (by allowing Faith to be brought to Boston) and the Governor’s (since Magawisca, in the position of her father Mononotto’s advisor, is tied up in inter-tribal and colonial politics). While Hope is recovering from a severe illness brought on by her adventure at sea, Sir Philip goes to the jail and tries to help Magawisca escape, if only she will take Rosa into the wilderness with her. She spurns him.
Later, at Magawisca’s trial for conspiracy against the colony, Magawisca reveals Sir Philip’s lies and two-facedness and turns the crowd in her own favor. However, the trial is suspended, and she continues to languish in prison. While Everell and Hope are plotting to free her, the Fletchers’ troublesome servant, Jennet, overhears them and plots with Sir Philip in turn. Hope persuades her tutor, Master Cradock, to be her accomplice in breaking Magawisca out of jail by having Magawisca and Cradock swap clothes, fooling the hapless jailer, Barnaby Tuttle. Meanwhile, Sir Philip arranges for the pirate Chaddock to kidnap Hope. But, at the same time, Oneco sneaks into the Winthrops’ house in a sailor’s disguise, reunites with Faith, and takes a snooping Jennet with them at knifepoint so she won’t raise an alarm. Chaddock’s men mistake Jennet for Hope, abduct her, and they smuggle her to their waiting ship. There, Rosa, despairing, ignites a gunpowder keg, which kills her, Sir Philip, Jennet, and Chaddock’s entire crew. Faith and Oneco happily make their escape. Hope and Everell succeed in helping Magawisca escape Boston as well, and despite their fond farewell, Magawisca declines to stay in touch, explaining that it’s impossible for white people and American Indians to truly be friends in this life, given the sorry history of theft and violence between them.
The next morning, Hope discovers that Esther has sailed back to England of her own accord, not wanting to get in the way of Hope’s happiness with Everell. Hope and Everell are now free to marry, and they live happily.
