In 1837 a dauntless band of pioneers sets out from Long Island on a mission to win the rich Oregon territory for America. The major characters are a fiery young widow, Claudia Humphries, and the bold wagon master, Sam Brentwood, who commands the first leg of the remarkable journey.

Denver! Braving the Rockies and the untamed wilderness, they came to the wild frontier town and watched it explode into a city of fabulous instant wealth. Some were desperate men and women fleeing the mounting turbulence in the East, others were adventurers forsaking the played-out dreams of the California gold fields. They were lured by the most powerful promise of all--bonanza!

Clay Holt goes to Canada in search of an enemy, while his brother Jeff is stalked by a killer in North Carolina.

The saga of men and women caught up in the great adventure of America's westward drive.

Raw determination carried them across steep mountain trails to the lawless territory of Utah. Here brawny work gangs and rugged engineers blasted out rock-walled tunnels and laid countless miles of shining rails to link a vast continent from coast to distant coast. But soon rampaging Indians with rifles blazing joined unscrupulous ranchers in trying to stop the iron wheels of progress from entering this virgin, untamed land.

Rugged pioneer trails led them across snowy mountain peaks to the grassy plains of big-sky country. Rich mines of fabulous gold lured dreamers and desperados to stake their claims in this lawless territory. There, brave ranchers fought for their homesteads against outlaws and Indians who tried to plunder their wealth and capture their women in the high adventure of these wild and bloody days.

Louisiana! A volatile mix of Cajun and Creole, exotic and tame, good and evil walked the waterfront and the wild wise. Here legitimate cargo hid the illegal trade in opium, weapons, and shanghaied men. Here the diabolical domain of a mysterious Chinese Tong would sweep legendary fighting man Toby Holt-intrepid son of Wagonmaster Whip Holt-into a struggle with a sensual woman more deadly than any man. And while an unusual underworld ally waged a vendetta...

Savage Indian attacks. A lone, war-crazed Blackfoot stalking them. The courts of Queen Victoria and Russia's Czar plotting to thwart their valiant gamble for the future of a new nation. Bitter winter coming. Yet America;s first wagon train pushes its way westward through the Rockies. Ahead is Oregon, the Promised Land--and the endless miles of hardship and danger, treachery and death that stand between them and their beloved goal.

Toby Holt rides west to claim a homestead in Washington's timberland.