It is 1659 in England and Mary is an orhpan who lives with her grandmother on the edge of a forest. That is until the people of the town come for her grandmother to accuse her of being a witch. Do you know what they did to women that they accused of being a witch? They would try to make them confess through various tortures and if that didn't work they would give them a test. They would tie their right toe to their left thumb and vice versa. Then they would throw them in water. If they sank, hurray. They were not a witch. But they were dead. If they floated, they would quickly fish them out, because that meant they were indeed a witch and the community got to publicly hang her. This is what Mary watched her grandmother endure.
And guess what the people of her little English town thought about the granddaughter of a certified witch? Yep, that she was a witch too. With the help of a stranger she escapes on a ship to America. But guess what, in America she lives among the puritans and they too have their fears of witches and the dark arts.