In one awful hour, the Scottish Highlanders lost their way of life forever. Despite surviving the Battle at Culloden Moor, Benjamin MacKenzie and his brothers only had cold comfort from Prince Charles Edward Stuart-save yourselves any way you can. Benjamin whisked his family away to Ireland, thinking they would escape the horrible punishment that awaited them should they be caught by their British enemies. They didn't.

In their native home, the MacKenzies were a proud clan with a proud name. In Ireland, that name would become anathema if they carried it forth, and so it became Kimsey. That name didn't hide them either from an English prisoner ship and a fate worse than death: sold as indentured servants in Lord Baltimore's colony. The little family was taken to their knees.

With the good fortune of a fellow Scot as their master who became a good friend and set them on their feet again, the Kimseys found a fertile land and a fresh start. While other challenges would test them, including a war with their old enemies, they started a new clan, the head of which would become well-known, and the many generations would claim descent from Benjamin, their common ancestor.