Zachariah, a mulatto slave, doesn’t find much reason to be happy after being sold away from his mother and sister. However, he keeps having dreams of a beautiful woman with amber skin and this gives him some measure of joy. On a cold winter’s day, he is shocked to meet his fantasy woman in the flesh. Drawn to her, he feels compelled to help her the only way he can—by giving her his warm coat.

Lillian Hildebrand is a member of the Cherokee elite, but she doesn’t feel like a socialite on the Trail of Tears. After meeting the charming and kind-hearted white one held in chains, she begins having reoccurring dreams of him. As if cast into her dream catcher, Zachariah fills her dreams from that day forward. Since he continues to call to her in her dreams four years later, Lillian is convinced the ancestors have deemed they meet again.

With the help of her wealthy white brother-in-law, she tracks Zachariah to the Kentucky restaurant he helps manage. Her plans for the future run deeper than Zachariah ever imagined. Will her attempt to help him pass as white and start life anew with her on the Indian reservation pay off, or spell disaster for them both?