In a flashback to April 30, 1778, Martha Ballard and her family arrive in Hallowell after traveling in rain and spending the night in tents. While the children explore the clearing, Martha, holding her newborn son, tells Ephraim Ballard that she is finished with babies, moving, and upheaval. Ephraim answers gently and jokes that he is content to stop now that he finally has a son named after him.

Martha reflects that Ephraim spent nine years persuading her to leave Oxford. She understood his reasons: the family needed more land, more opportunity, and a way for Ephraim to use his carpentry in the lumber trade. Even so, the thought of starting over was painful, especially because leaving Oxford meant leaving behind what she most associated with their daughters. Young Ephraim’s unexpected birth made the family’s lack of space and options impossible to ignore, so the move became their compromise.

Ephraim then walks Martha across the property and turns the raw land into a vivid plan for the future. He shows her where he will build a large house with separate rooms for the children and space for future grandchildren, as well as a barn, paddocks, gardens, an orchard, and a mill on the creek. He explains that the creek and the nearby Kennebec River will make the lumber business possible by carrying logs and boards, and his confidence helps Martha begin to see the place as a real home rather than an unsettling beginning.

The walk ends beneath a great oak in the south pasture. Ephraim points out a fox hole and says it means they will be watched over there, then returns to the wagon and places three stones beneath the tree, honoring the daughters Martha has struggled to leave behind. Sitting together under the oak, Martha and Ephraim exchange affectionate Shakespeare lines, reaffirm their devotion, and look over the land where they will build their life. By the end of the chapter, Martha no longer feels only loss and exhaustion; she feels that Hallowell is home.