Sisters Kathleen and Josie Colby are alone in the boomtown of Skagway, newly arrived and penniless amid the violence and greed of the gold miners and those who prey upon them. The gold rush of 1899 has transformed Alaska into the favored destination for all the dreamers and desperadoes of the world. Kathleen and Josie did not venture to Alaska to make their fortunes with a sudden gold strike. They have come seeking their father, but they learn that he is already dead. Their mother also dies by violence in Skagway, killed by a stray bullet intended for a different victim. Strong and spirited Kathleen will do anything to protect her helpless sister Josie, a quadriplegic who seems to most people to be completely unable to communicate. Kathleen believes that Josie is perfectly aware of everything that goes on around her, and that she can communicate with anyone who pays attention, though she cannot make herself understood with ordinary words. When it appears that her sister will be placed in an asylum, Kathleen turns to a handsome and plausible man for help. He tells her that he will soon marry her and help her care for her sister, and she believes him. But he is not to be trusted. In a drunken rage, he assaults her and leaves her bleeding on the muddy streets of Skagway. Kathleen will need all her strength and courage to heal and to go on. She is resolved to take her sister home, or to such a home as they have, to their father's family in New York City. Yet to reach New York will be a difficult and dangerous adventure. Their journey will change Kathleen from a naive and impulsive young woman to someone with the knowledge and understanding to take on the Old West amid the growing pangs of a new century. Sam Winslow turns up to help Kathleen and Josie as they travel. He is a quietly spiritual man, someone who holds beliefs that Kathleen can scarcely credit. Yet sometimes she feels that she nearly understands him, that she comes close to sharing the spiritual experiences that give meaning to his life. Sam treats Josie with respect and understanding and shows Kathleen as much tenderness as she will allow. He is a man of many secrets, a man who seems to share his feelings as scantily as Kathleen now shares her own. She tries to leave him behind more than once, but still she senses something between them, something unspoken. He confuses Kathleen, driving her away as he attracts her. She knows that she cannot trust another supposed rescuer, that she alone must rescue herself. She is sure that she must learn to stand on her own legs before she can build a relationship with any man. She is drawn to this strange and passionate man, yet she has her goals and her responsibilities. A man in her life would only be a distraction, she tells herself. Perhaps the brutal assault she endured in Skagway has closed off her heart to the possibility of faith in someone else. Can she someday learn to trust again--and begin to learn to love?