At the edge of the frontier in Alta California, an opportunistic thief and an escaped female slave are forced to cooperate to outwit enemies from every side.

1846. James McCollam, an Army scout on the edge of the American frontier abandons his unit after a chance encounter with a Native tribe leads him to believe that the tribal people are in possession of gold. In hopes of acquiring their precious metal James takes on a new endeavor of robbing immigrant wagons for supplies worth trading with his tribal hosts. James' routine gets overturned when he comes across a massacred slave caravan and discovers a lone survivor, a wounded slave girl named Caroline. His reluctant attempt to aid her goes sideways when he betrays and kills a Native Warrior, forcing them to go on the run. James and Caroline soon realize partnership is necessary for survival as they try to escape being hunted across California's sparsely populated terrain.—S