Easy pickings: Life hasn’t always been easy for March and Kermit McPhee, but things are finally looking up. March has given birth to a healthy son, and Kermit is blasting his way along a good seam of ore in their small gold mine. Then Kermit is crushed by a cave-in. Within days of his death, the crooks of Marysville, Montana, are at March’s door, eager to get their hands on the mine. Her refusal sets off a terrible chain of events. March’s baby boy is killed, her home burned to the ground. Terrified and threatened, targeted by the wealthy and powerful, March fights back every way she can. Still, she must ask herself whether it is worth it; whether a gold mine, or wealth of any sort, should be defended at such a price.

The first dance: Miles City, Montana, 1885. Barnaby Skye's mixed-blood son, Dirk, marries a MÔetis girl, Therese, but his position as a civilian translator for the US Army threatens to shatter their union. When Dirk is forced to serve in the brutal campaign between Montana's disgruntled cattle ranchers and the native MÔetis people, a distraught Therese flees--on their wedding night. Though they have been torn apart, Therese and Dirk share a powerful bond and a common cause: the desire to help the displaced MÔetis find a home. Their love pulls them toward reconciliation and new hope for Therese's people.