Fulton Missouri residents Sarah and Ruth discover the story of Samantha Coldiron's flight from the man trying to kill her, and a series of mishaps in a quest for life-saving salt at the end of the Civil War led to a cache of gold that's never been recovered, as far as they know. In alternating chapters, Sarah and Ruth's breakneck journey to North Carolina in 1984 and Samantha's harrowing flight out of North Carolina trying to escape Frank Daniels in 1864 are told. Sarah and Ruth only have a week to get to North Carolina, find out where Samantha lived and ask the owner if they can look for the gold and get back before they lose their jobs.