Angeline Reddy turns to friends for help when her father, the best lawyer in their California gold mining town, disappears, but her efforts are complicated by her mother's sudden illness, her uncle's arrest for the murder of her father, the appearance of a mysterious ghost, and a dangerous gang of vigilantes.

Lee Westfall, a young woman with the magical ability to sense the presence of gold, must flee her home to avoid people who would abuse her powers, so when her best friend Jefferson heads out across Gold Rush-era America to stake his claim, she disguises herself as a boy and sets out on her own dangerous journey.