This is a biography of Isabel Orleans-Braganca, daughter of the last emperor of Brazil. At a time when the voices of women went mostly unheard, Orleans-Braganca was a skilled and vocal politician. She was also a determined abolitionist, committed to peacefully ending slavery in the country that first introduced slavery to America.

Thrust into the political spotlight after the death of her two brothers and illness of her father, Orleans-Braganca became acting head of state just as revolution was sweeping the country. She soon found herself in a race to save the constitutional government and free the nation's slaves before a coup d'etat ended her time in power.