Evangeline

the long version

Inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem Evangeline. As the British drove the French out of mid-eighteenth century Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia), seventeen-year-old Evangeline Bellefontaine is torn by British soldiers from her fiance, Gabriel Lajeunesse, on the eve of their wedding. Heartbroken but determined, Evangeline - along with illegal trapper Bernard Arseneau and priest Felician Abadie - sets out on a 10 year journey to the French-Spanish colony of Louisiana to seek her long-lost love. Evangeline's epic quest brings her across North America's colonial wilderness, through the French and Indian War, and into New Orleans' rebellion against Spanish rule. The legend of Evangeline is still alive from Nova Scotia to Louisiana, where parks, songs, statues, trees, restaurants, and people bear her name.