Naïve but full of dreams, Matilda Beaumont marries a virtual stranger, a man more focused on the call of the New Mexico Territory than the realities of life in 1857 St. Louis. Only her prideful dignity and an all-consuming self-confidence gives Tildy the courage to endure, even when her husband abandons her in the midst of an influenza epidemic. Nat Carruthers becomes obsessed with Tildy after rescuing her from a near-drowning on her wedding day. As a Virginia gentleman and respected St. Louis attorney he distances himself yet stays informed

of the Beaumont fortunes. After losing his brother, he heads to Santa Fe, only to learn influenza had taken Tildy. Cards, liquor and gun play dominate Nat's life until he travels to the southern part of the territory, where he finds Tildy very much alive—and struggling for a dignified existence. Newly widowed, she has become the inexplicable nemesis of a wealthy Spanish Don, a man who had mysteriously financed her husband's pitifully small ranch and now insists on controlling Tildy's life. The Spanish-American tensions and Apache fears turn the Mesilla Valley into a tinder box. Nat must figure out why Tildy has become the match that is likely to ignite a political explosion.