Even though the Gommesens have been married for 25 years, they are still in love. They wake up happy on their silver wedding anniversary, but the peaceful atmosphere does not last.
An Eastern boy is sent to the West to run the family's sheep ranch. The presence of sheep anger nearby cattlemen, who don't want to share their cattle's grazing lands with them, and their leader has no compunctions about resorting to drastic measures to protect his interests.
Two factory owners, Hiram Maxwell and Nicholas Harding are almost polar opposites -- Maxwell pays careful attention to his employees needs, while Harding totally disregards them.
She was a very modern young woman, was Miss Hobbs. Her ideas were about fifty years ahead of time. For one thing she hated men, thought them all brutes.
During the Civil War, Rachel Hayne, a young widow, is among those "held by the enemy" when her old family home is within the lines occupied by the Northern troops.
Notorious pirate Joaquin Santos lives by the saying, "Dead Men Tell No Tales". He conspires with the prominent Squire Rattray to take over and plunder the Lady Jermyn, a ship carrying a considerable amount of gold, and then destroy the ship and kill its crew.