From the 18th century into the early years of the 19th, Americans - traveling to find new homes and new lands - crossed the Appalachian Mountains and moved across the Northwest Territory, spreading west to the banks of the great river. Using the lore and folk-magic of the men and women who settled a continent, and the beliefs of the tribes who were there before them, Orson Scott Card has created an alternate frontier America.

When Alvin arrives in Hatrack River to take up his apprenticeship with Makepeace Smith and learn to be a blacksmith, he finds that nothing is as he expected. This would-be maker is on his own and the work of the Unmaker is close at hand.

Prentice Alvin is book 3 of the The Tales of Alvin Maker series.