Running with the bulls in old Pamplona, Spain is not a sport for young ladies, but Manuela does it and life changes forever. The Queen's lover dies and Fernando, Manuela's lover is blamed. He, Fernando, flees and is assumed dead. A Spanish civil war forces Manuela's family to flee to colonial California, but along the way loved ones are lost. Manuela disguises herself and becomes her dead twin brother. Meanwhile, in Spain, a Cain and Abel event developed between identical brothers over the far away Manuela. Each brother follows her but in the end truth prevails.

This saga, set in the mid 1800's in Spain and in and round the missions and churches of Carmel and Monterey California - The Soldiers Chapel - is rich in history, love lost and found and human, religious and civil tragedy.