Muskets, stinging arrows, and even slings, Beside the Long River delivers action behind every tree of early American forests. In the early seventeenth century, Puritan teenager Sarah Lyman realizes the leaders of English settlements will destroy anything in the way of their expansion in the New World, including wolves --and Indians. Louella Bryant brings spirited Sarah to life when she discovers the rules in Massachusetts Bay Colony are even stricter than in England and joins her family in following Thomas Hooker to establish the city of Hartford. Sarah figures in Connecticut she might be able to dress and act as she wants without fear of punishment. But Pequot Indians edging close to the town's borders must be eliminated, even though Sarah has made friends with a native girl and falls for her brother, the brave Ayaks. Dressed as a boy, Sarah enlists with the English infantry marching to Missituck (Mystic) in hopes of stopping the massacre of the Pequot tribe and the man she loves. Beside the Long River is based on historical people and events, including the brutal and bloody Pequot War of 1636.