It's the summer of 1825, and the Erie Canal promises to transform Lockport, New York, and the lives of its residents.

Twins Henry and Emma Emser have grown up in Lockport, but as the town bursts with new faces-women botanists, young travelers, treasure hunters, and the workers who dig the canal-they are forced to confront the changes unfolding all around them. Fifteen-year-old Letty has crossed the ocean from Ireland to join her father, working tirelessly on the canal's construction. At the Emser Inn, Letty witnesses firsthand how the canal is transforming the lives of locals and newcomers alike.

But the canal's construction also brings tension. Ta-won-ne-as, a Seneca boy who lives near the Lockport settlement with his community, grapples with the growing conflict between the encroaching world of settlers and the deep traditions of the Haudenosaunee people.

As the canal draws in people from every walk of life, it stirs new hopes, dreams, and conflicts. As the grand celebration of the canal's completion approaches, the children must reckon with what they stand to gain, and lose, in a town forever changed by the waterway that runs through it.