The writing seems to get better with each installment of the Alvin Maker series. This one is played mostly as a courtroom drama. Peggy writes Alvin to tell him he should leave his hometown, or he may lose the choice. He is pig-headed about it, but finally leaves when a girl starts spreading rumors about him. He returns to the town where he was an apprentice blacksmith - only to be arrested on charges that he "stole" his golden plow from his master. He sits in jail, while all sorts of charges are leveled (many by an assistant lawyer - Daniel Webster.) He is eventually acquitted of all charges, and, anticlimactically marries Peggy at the end.
Meanwhile his brother Calvin has also left their hometown and voyaged off to the side of evil, and goes runs in to William Henry Harrison in New York and runs off to Europe to try to learn to be a leader from Napoleon. Calvin seems to be turning totally evil. However, some of his "evil" things end up helping Alvin (such as indirectly introducing Alvin to his British lawyer.) Things seem to be getting set up for Calvin to do something really bad before turning over to the side of good.
This book introduces a few more "historical figures" in slightly non-historical roles. While they add color to the story, they are not critical to the underlying human drama.
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