In 1849, during the California gold rush, prospector Jan Morell and his brother Frank plan to save enough gold in order to buy good farming land in the Napa Valley. One day, while Jan and Frank are prospecting in a nearby river bed, a gang of thugs and claim jumpers led by Jack Welch and Hank Purvis ransack Jan's cabin, steal his gold dust and kill his wife. One of the thugs, Purvis, also takes the cameo brooch Jan gave to his wife. When Jan and Frank return to the cabin and discover the tragedy, Jan swears vengeance.

At her father's funeral, Ann Chapin thinks back over the last five years of his life, years of apparent political and personal failure dominated by a selfish and dissatisfied wife and eased only by alcohol. But it starts to emerge that there was in fact one brief and unsuspected period of happiness and love.