Clara finds her freedom traded away when her gambling father marries her off to settle staggering debts with Nat Birch, an aloof Boston financier she has never met. Dressed in bleak mourning attire for her rushed nuptials, she is abandoned immediately afterward with curt instructions to rendezvous four weeks later for a perilous westward crossing.
Arriving at the depot, Clara discovers two neglected children and a pair of hostile female in-laws plotting to ensure she never survives the brutal wilderness expedition. Instead of breaking down under their vicious schemes, Clara draws on gritty survival instincts to protect the vulnerable young ones. Across thousands of unforgiving miles, she transforms into a formidable frontier survivor whom nobody can break.
