Galveston Bay, Republic of Texas . . . Caleb Landers and his associates embark on a trading voyage to New York and London aboard their sailing ship Atlantic. A Spanish sea captain and his eight men are booked as passengers. Captain Arredondo has urgent business in Spain, so he asks to charter the Atlantic, but his request is denied. Bored and heavily in debt, Arredondo accepted an assignment to capture and return three rebellious teenagers to Spain. They had run away to Texas to avoid being forced into arranged marriages with rich, elderly Spanish aristocrats. As the Atlantic rounds the tip of Florida, Arredondo and his men take Caleb, his business associates, and the Atlantic's Captain and First Mate captive and then take command of the ship. They change course and head for Spain. When water and food supplies run low, they are forced to stop in the Azores Islands where the Atlantic becomes becalmed. Four ships are sighted. Through his spyglass, Arredondo sees that they are well-manned, sweep-driven ships with cannons. The black skull-and-crossbones flag is hoisted. Pirates The Atlantic is trapped, unable to move as the pirate ships close in. Arredondo fears the worst, but has no idea that Muslim pirates are not his biggest problem. As the battle with the pirates ensues, Caleb and his fellow prisoners escape. They confront the "Spanish pirates" aboard the Atlantic. Arredondo, his men, and the Atlantic's First Mate are killed. Caleb, his associates, and the Atlantic's crew retake the ship. Now they must escape from the pirates, re-provision the ship, and sail to New York. Caleb tells the crew, "We're going to fight as hard as we can to win our freedom and we'll kill as many of these pirate bastards as we must to get away "

In 1837 Caleb Landers flees his trading post north of Taos, New Mexico to avoid the Mexican Army. Caleb, along with his friend and scout, Thomas Lyon, take a pack train from Taos to Bents Fort on the Arkansas River-the only outpost between Santa Fe and Independence, Missouri. There they meet Lope de Saavedra (aka "Flower Watcher") who agrees to lead them across Texas to Galveston Bay. The story is about a life and death journey across Texas, northwest to southeast-Taos to Galveston Bay. For Flower Watcher it is his death march. For Caleb and his associates, it is where they will start a new life when they open their trading station near Houston, capital of the new Texas republic.

Dutch Fields wants the homestead of Charles Lassiter, a frontier muzzleloader riflesmith, and his son, William ("Billy"). Unable to coerce Caleb's father to sell, Dutch and his son Claude (a/k/a "Slip") murder Charles Lassiter. Slip lives up to the nickname given him by some mountain men and disappears. After taking personal retribution against Dutch, Billy embarks on an 800-mile journey across the frontier's "prairie ocean," making his way through Indian lands until he reaches Santa Fe, in what was then a part of Mexico. Billy changes his name to "Caleb Landers" to disassociate himself from the crime he has committed (i.e., the revenge murder of Dutch Fields.) There he sets up his trading station in nearby Taos, which endeavor is fraught with the troubles of the times. In Independence, Missouri, seven year-old Polly Larson is left with the Hydes, a farming family. They do not allow her to go to school. Instead, she labors on the farm, for which she receives only room and board. Some years later, teenage Polly is sexually abused by the farmer's sons, a nightmare which lasts for several years. One day Polly accidentally trips Mother Hyde, who becomes enraged and accuses Polly of seducing her sons. Polly is kicked off the farm and sent down the road with no idea where she will go. Her only thought is to try to find her older brother who is believed to be living in Santa Fe, in Mexico. Soon Polly meets Jeremy, an Irishman who works as a freight wagon driver, who is enroute to Santa Fe. She accompanies him on his journey along the Santa Fe Trail as part of a small wagon train. Despite the fact that Jeremy is much older than Polly, they fall in love. Their lovemaking adds spice to the story. The wagon train is attacked and all perish except Polly who was off chasing a runaway horse. Caleb finds her and they continue on their way to Santa Fe. The descriptions of day-to-day living-chores like butchering their own food and fighting with Indians and renegade mountain men makes for an exciting story.

Caleb Landers travels into the Rocky Mountains and then to Alta California. The violence that was commonplace in this period of history is brought to life by Caleb and Maria as they not only fight Indians and renegade whites, but also the elements while crossing the frontier. Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821. The lands from Texas to California first belonged to Mexico, then to Texas. Mexico owned the territory which stretched from Santa Fe to the 42nd parallel to the Sierra Nevada Mountains-including what is now Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Colorado. It was a vast wasteland occupied by savage Indians and occasionally American or French-Canadian fur trappers who were frequently wilder than the savages. The plight of women in those early days was much different than that of today's liberated women; yet their intelligence, their needs, and their ambitions were the same. As Maria matures and becomes sexually involved with Caleb and other lovers, her confusion is compounded by her sexuality, as well as the circumstances surrounding the women of that period.