It is 1846 and Sarah Harlan is just thirteen when she sets out with her family on the great trek West to California. Confident and assured beyond her years, schooled and shaped by the Father she adores, Sarah believes life has little more to teach her. But this is a journey like no other. In crossing a Continent they must face all Nature can unleash upon them; tempests and floods; raging rivers and scorching deserts; disease and starvation. To face these challenges and overcome them, Sarah must also take her own journey of discovery. Encouraged by her cousin Nathan, she must look within and find the truth of who she wishes to be, of who she must be. Before her long journey is through her strength and resolve will be tested beyond endurance as, above and beyond the torments of the road before them, their small group must face the cruelty and corruption of their fellow travellers. A disagreement between two groups that will fester and grow; a poison that will cast a shadow across their path, until one last bloody confrontation high in the Sierra Nevada mountains.