At Missouri House, a stagecoach stop in the goldfields of the Sierra Nevada, Ida Hatfield and her mother Molly are surrounded by danger as Yankees, Rebels, and outlaws vie to possess the glittering treasure of the Northern Mines.
In nearby Nevada City, Will Stafford, a young Virginian attorney, finds California becoming as dear to his heart as his Southern homeland. As the War of Rebellion rages on, his loves and loyalties are put to the ultimate test.
Nevada City, the Queen of the Northern Mines, was a vibrant community in the 1860's. The story's characters, real and fictional, come from all over the globe. In addition to the central theme of warring Americans, the book tells of Ah Tie, a Chinese mine owner who is denied justice for his two murdered guards; of Peter Kessel, an Austrian musician and absconded revolutionary, who finds an improbable bride in the American wilderness; and of Nutim, a Maidu orphan, who plots revenge against the white “ghost people†who are destroying his tribe.