Spots 
English ecclesiastical authorities suppress congregations seeking pure apostolic worship outside the state church. Believers face imprisonment, constant surveillance, and the loss of their livelihoods for refusing conformity to episcopal rites. Religious devotion requires severing ties with home and seeking asylum across the North Sea.
Attempted departures from England end in betrayal by ship captains and arrest by local magistrates. Separatist families are separated on coastal mudflats near Hull while storm waves scatter their transport vessel. Persecution follows them to the water's edge before they finally reach Amsterdam.
Moving from Amsterdam to Leyden obliges agricultural laborers to adapt to grueling urban trades. Hard labor secures peace under John Robinson's ministry, maintaining strict community discipline and harmony with Dutch neighbors. Freedom of conscience demands relentless bodily toil that ages men before their time.
Economic hardship causes elder church members to wither prematurely while children suffer exhausting labor. Exposure to Dutch youth threatens to dissolve the community's English language and religious identity. Transporting the faith across the Atlantic Ocean presents the only path to preserve their heritage.
Agents sent to London attempt to secure a royal charter and financial backing from the Virginia Company. King James refuses a formal liberty of conscience, offering only informal tolerance. Church members decide that uncertain royal promises are sufficient to proceed with preparations.
Negotiator Robert Cushman alters investment terms to satisfy London financier Thomas Weston and the Merchant Adventurers. Settlers lose personal ownership of their houses and land during a seven-year period of communal production. Survival demands submitting to harsh economic terms dictated by capital backers.
Part of the Leyden congregation boards the Speedwell at Delftshaven after a solemn day of prayer and fasting. Tears and lingering embrace mark the parting between those staying in Holland and those venturing to America. The ship reaches Southampton to join the larger vessel Mayflower for the passage.
Repeated leaks force the Speedwell to abandon the voyage, leaving the overcrowded Mayflower to proceed alone. Severe autumn gales crack a main deck beam, requiring an iron jack screw to repair the timber mid-ocean. The vessel endures two months of relentless storms before sighting land.
Sighting Cape Cod ends the ocean voyage, but shoals force the vessel back into harbor rather than south toward the Hudson River. The settlers find no friendly harbor, native welcome, or shelter against the approaching winter. A desolate, wind-swept coastline presents their first encounter with the American wilderness.
Search parties explore the coast by open boat amidst snow, freezing rain, and a sudden volley of native arrows. Reaching a protected harbor with cleared fields and fresh water springs, the party selects Plymouth as the site for their settlement. Survival hinges on establishing shelters before the severe New England winter deepens.
A firsthand account of the Separatists' flight from England, voyage on the Mayflower, and founding of Plymouth Colony.