"A quest story to find the three pieces of a magical engine which can either win the War of 1812...or stop it altogether"--

Caroline's father has just returned when they receive frightening news--British warships are sailing to attack Sackets Harbor. Every grown man, including Papa, has been called to defend the village. Mama and Caroline are left alone to guard Abbott's Shipyard as the battlefront draws ever closer. Caroline knows she must be brave to keep Papa's shipyard safe. But when the battle seems lost, Mama gives her a terrible order: burn the shipyard to the ground....

When Caroline and her friends Rhonda and Seth go out fishing, they sight an American supply boat being pursued by a British warship, and Caroline must come up with a daring plan to notify the town and save the boat.

Relates events of the 1814 Battle of Baltimore as seen through the eyes of twelve-year-old Caroline Pickersgill, who had worked with her family and their servants to sew the enormous flag which waved over Fort McHenry.

Caroline and her mother make a danagerous trip across Lake Ontario to the British fort where her father is a prisoner. When Mama isn't allowed to see Papa, it's up to Caroline to deliver a secret message to him--right under the nose of a British guard.

Twelve-year-olds Anikwa, of the Miami village of Kekionga, and James, of the trading post outside Fort Wayne, find their friendship threatened by the rising fear and tension brought by the War of 1812.

A letter arrives for Caroline, asking her to come help her uncle Aaron and cousin Lydia on their new farm for the summer. Although Caroline is reluctant to leave her family, she's eager to lend a hand. So when she suspects that a thief has been stealing much-needed food from the farm, Caroline helps keep watch to guard against the uninvited visitor. Then she makes an unexpected discovery--and learns that some things are not as simple as they seem....