A sweeping tale of adventure and danger, innovation and corruption, rivalry and romance on America's first transcontinental train trip.
May 1870. Crowds throng the Boston station, mesmerized by the mechanical wonder huffing on the rails: the Pullman Hotel Express, the first train to travel from coast to coast. Boarding the train are congressmen, railroad presidents, and even George Pullman himself. For two young women, strangers until this fateful day, it's the beginning of journey that will change their lives.
Sensitive Louisa dreads the trip, but with limited prospects, she's reluctantly joined the excursion as a governess to a wealthy family. Hattie is traveling to San Francisco to meet her fianc , yet she's far more interested in the workings of the locomotive than she is in the man awaiting her arrival. As the train makes its miraculous progress westward, the two women find their lives and hearts entwining in unexpected ways.
As they grow closer, so does the danger in the wilds of the frontier and in the lengths the railroad men will go to protect their investments. Before their journey is over, Louisa and Hattie will find themselves very far from where they intended to go.