Yearning for love, fifteen-year-old Esther Pershing is stuck on a wagon train to Oregon. Her father leads the 1847 company, her mother is ailing, and her younger siblings need her care. Nineteen-year-old Daniel Abercrombie, the only suitable young man on the journey, catches her fancy. Though old enough to file a land claim in Oregon, Daniel is still a boy in his parents' eyes. Smitten by Esther's beauty and spirit, Daniel seeks her out. What chance does the young couple's romance have when their fathers argue at every turn of the trail and their travels bring only danger, disease, and death?