In May 1864, Robin Walkingstick Heatherton, a beautiful young woman of half-Cherokee descent, has again disguised herself as a Union soldier and infiltrated the Union Army in order to spy for the Confederacy. Union Army Major Thomas Corley, obsessed with Robin ever since her espionage activities caused the death of his brother, has offered $1000 in gold for information leading to her capture; he also has vowed to track her down and kill her himself. When her Confederate soldier husband is executed by firing squad at Corley's command, Robin flees Virginia with their five-year-old son, Jeremy, for the West. En route, she wins a mining claim in the Colorado Territory, only to find out that it has already been settled by the bushy-bearded Garrison Parker, a Union Army hero. Eventually, the two fall in love, but Garrison must make a fateful decision: whether to reveal Robin's possible involvement in one of the most shocking events in American history...