The strife of the Civil War has ended, but the Indian wars on the Plains have intensified and the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads are locked in a high-stakes competition to link the eastern states with their western counterparts. Jordana Baldwin had come to California by stagecoach to help her sister Victoria, but after three years she has grown restless and feels the need to do something difference. When her writing catches the attention of an eastern newspaper, she takes on the guise of a man to report on the progress of the rail line—and spy for the Central Pacific. But Jordana has continued to correspond with Captain Rich O’Brian, who has left the army and now works for the Union Pacific. When they meet again, romantic sparks fly, but Rich’s past still looms between them. Since his wife’s death, he’s made it clear he wants no ties to another woman, yet he realizes he’s fallen in love with Jordana.