A commentary on an oppressive colonial system that people fled from in order to start a new life, this historical novel examines the hardships suffered by Welsh colonists who settled in Patagonia. Following a devastating sea journey, Silas James encounters a cold South American desert where nothing survives except the nomadic Tehuelche Indians—a tribe potentially intent on massacring the new arrivals. Fearing that he has been tricked into sacrificing everything for another man's impossible dream, James, along with his fellow colonists, battles to survive hunger and loss. Under the influences of politically adept Edwyn Owen and the watchful eye of Indian shaman Yelue, James witnesses as a new culture begins to take root as an old one fades.