When Tansy Malone first looks into the eyes of Tom Wolf, she is swept by a love that is 'like fire of sun and glow of moon' But their ways seem fated to part, for Wolf is a half-breed Indian returning to his father's tribe, and Tansy has an elderly husband and a delicate sister, with whom she is setting out for the New World A variety of experiences and a host of characters lie ahead, as Tansy travels along the Sacramento Trail towards California