Kathleen and Josie Colby stand alone in the boomtown of Skagway. They are newly arrived and penniless amid the violence and greed of the gold miners and those who prey upon them. It is 1899 and the gold rush has transformed Alaska into the favored destination for the dreamers and desperadoes of the world.

 

Strong and spirited, Kathleen will do anything to protect her helpless sister Josie. When it appears that Josie may be placed in an asylum, Kathleen turns to a handsome and plausible man for help. She believes he will marry her and help her care for her sister. But he is not to be trusted. In a drunken rage, he assaults her and leaves her bleeding on the muddy streets of Skagway.

 

With both of her parents dead, Kathleen resolves to make her way to New York City, where she believes her father’s parents live. She does not know them, but she cannot think of anywhere else to turn. In a journey full of dangerous adventure, she travels across the breadth of America, on foot, on horseback, and in that astonishing innovation called the passenger train. She and her sister experience firsthand the amazing changes that come with the birth of the twentieth century.

 

Though she begins her journey thoughtless and innocent, Kathleen learns to survive in a savage world. She will shoot to kill if she must in order to protect her sister and herself. The man of many secrets she knew as a beggar in Skagway helps her cross America by train, but she refuses to care for him. Will the hardships she has endured forever close her heart to love?