Nacido en 1795 en la California hispana, Diego de la Vega está atrapado entre dos mundos. Su padre es militar convertido en próspero hacendado, su madre es guerrera indígena y su abuela materna es la sabia chamán de su tribu. Del primero, Diego aprende las virtudes de un hidalgo, mientras su madre y su abuela lo inician en las tradiciones indígenas. Desde la niñez se da cuenta de las injusticias que soportan los indios a mano de los colonos...

"Bounty hunter John Tone is good at his job. Some would say ruthless. If there's killing to be done, he shows no mercy. In another time, far across the ocean, Tone lost the only person he's ever loved--and he's been dead inside ever since. That's the hand fate dealt him, and he'll play it out. But then a powerful criminal from San Francisco's notorious Barbary Coast makes him an offer he can't refuse, and Tone has to draw out six of his client's worst...

In 1848, Cord Bennett, leaving his family behind to stake his claim in California, arrives in the gold-rich canyon of Rio Oro, controlled by deadly and ruthless criminals, where he discovers in a land of opportunity, not all that glitters is gold.