"It's like a city without buildings", thought Fortune. "All these people, with nothing to live in but wagons."
The year is 1853. Bravely carrying on the work of her late father's acting troupe, young Fortune Plunkett is leading the group west on a wagon train bound for San Francisco. It's a journey fraught with danger and disaster - as well as unexpected discoveries for the members of the troupe.
In the untamed West anything could happen - and often did. Fires destroyed towns overnight, rivers ran wild in heavy rains, wagons didn't always make it on the steep, gravelly bends of a mountain crossing. People learned to trust one another. People fell in love.